Chasing Dragons
by RukiLex
Summary: COMPLETE! Stranded in the Real World with no powers and no recollection of his life as a shinigami, Hitsugaya follows his only memories to the town in which he lived and died. HitsuKarin, some IchiRuki.
1. Prologue

**Chasing Dragons**

**Spoilers:**** Set approximately 14 years after the Winter War with Hueco Mundo and Aizen. Assumes knowledge of current manga plot line, mild spoilers.**

**Author's Note****: This story is a sequel to both "Empathy" and "In the House of Tomorrow." Although I'd love you to read those prior stories, you don't need to have read either to understand this one. All the necessary background will be recapped in this story as it unfolds. The plot follows the general history/character development in my three previous stories, including, "King's Key: The Four Prongs." **

**Pairings:**** This is first and foremost a HitsuXKarin love story, but it does also have some IchiXRuki adventure/romance, as well.**

**Disclaimers:**** The story is mine, but the characters belong to and are from the incredible imagination of the manga god Kubo Tite. I am in awe, Sensei.**

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**Chapter One - Prologue**

Two Weeks After the Battle at Karakura:

"_I found you once," said the dragon. "You were small, insignificant, barely worthy." He flicked his tail and the ground shook in response._

"_Who are you?" Hitsugaya asked. _

_The dragon exhaled and ice crystals formed in the air. "If you must ask," the ice dragon replied, "then you are undeserving of the answer. You must learn my name for yourself." He was a proud creature and slightly vain, but he could wait for the Guardian. He had waited before._

"_What are you?" asked the silver-haired man._

"_I am your strength," answered Hyorinmaru, opening his wings to their fullest, his head held high. "I am your past and your future."_

_**************************_

He awoke to the sound of rain pounding on the metal roof. It leaked down in spots, creating small rivers around the place where he had slept. The first light of morning had begun to turn the sky gray. It was cold, but he did not mind. The cold was comforting, familiar. A friend.

"_They're coming," _he thought, gathering his few belongings in a small drawstring bag. _"Time to move."_ He crept out the back of the building, looking around to see if he was being followed. They were still out there, watching him from a distance. He could hear them, almost sense their presence. _"If they'd wanted to kill me, I'd be dead already," _he thought. He headed back onto the road, where he felt more at ease.

He walked several miles before stopping by a stream. He washed his face in the icy water, melted snow from the mountains that towered above. He drank deeply, relishing the feel of the cold against his parched throat. It was then that he sensed it: something was different today. Someone else was following him. A woman, by the sound of her footsteps. Nearby.

"I know you're there," he said, turning around and looking towards a stand of pine trees, dripping with melted ice.

She stepped out from the trees and smiled at him. A tall woman with long, dark hair. Athletic and quite beautiful, wearing a pair of tattered jeans and a heavy sweater.

"Who are you?" he asked. "Why are you following me?"

"I'm Kurosaki Karin," she said. "I've been looking for you, Toushirou."


	2. The Battle at Karakura

**Chapter Two: The Battle at Karakura**

The air was thick with Reiatsu and the sky glittered with stars. Here, far from the city, the only light was from a sliver of a moon, hanging on the edge of the horizon. Six Tenth Division shinigami faced nearly a dozen fighters on the outskirts of Karakura in the air above an abandoned cement factory, its now-dormant towers standing like eerie sentinels in the near-darkness.

These were no ordinary fighters; they wore hooded cloaks which obscured their faces and wielded zanpakutos in the manner of trained shinigami. They had literally appeared out of nowhere and, within minutes, it was clear to Hitsugaya Toushirou that only a released zanpakuto would suffice against them. He was thankful he had chosen five of the strongest Tenth Division shinigami for this mission.

"Hayashi, Taguchi," yelled Hitsugaya over his shoulder to his subordinates, "you're with Kurosaki. Yamazaki, Sasaki, you're with me." The shinigami took to the air over the abandoned cement plant, spreading out to meet their attackers about thirty feet above the towers.

"Souten ni zase, Hyorinmaru!" shouted Hitsugaya, releasing his zanpakuto and swinging his katana with its now crescent-shaped blade towards the closest of the attackers. The two nearest the attack flew back, narrowly missing a stream of ice particles. A third attacker, who stood behind the others, was not quick enough, and was instantly trapped in a wall of ice. There was a surge in Reiatsu from the trapped fighter, and the ice shattered.

In the distance, he heard Kurosaki Karin call, "Soar, Masumi!" as she held her zanpakuto above her head and released her weapon. Masumi's blade glowed orange and red like the colors of sunset and she swung it low, sending a burst of fiery energy from its tip at the two fighters nearest her. Hitsugaya smiled as he watched her move across the sky, dodging attacks and responding in kind, a study in grace and power.

"_You would do well to direct your focus to your own opponents, Guardian," said Hyorinmaru. "There is danger here of which you do not yet know."_

One of the attackers flew at Hitsugaya, zanpakuto parallel to the ground. The weapon emitted sparks and then fire as the shinigami moved. The attack was easily extinguished in a shower of ice. Histugaya swung his katana and released a broader stream of ice crystals, sharp as blades, in the direction of the shinigami. The fighter spun in mid-air and the crystals melted like rain on the ground below.

"_They're strong," _thought Hitsugaya,_ "but they are not fighting to their fullest potential. Perhaps this is the danger Hyorinmaru warned of." _

In the distance, Hitsugaya saw the other Tenth Division shinigami, zanpakutos released, in similarly-matched contests with the remaining fighters. Even outnumbered as Hitsugaya's troops were, the clashes were more on the order of high level sparring matches than true battles. _"Time to test the waters,"_ thought Hitsugaya, surveying the scene.

"Daiguren Hyorinmaru!" Hitsugaya yelled, releasing his bankai. An enormous cloud enveloped him, coalescing around his body. Wings of ice grew from his back, and ice the shape of a dragon's head covered his hand and the hilt of his sword. Although he could not see their faces under their cloaks, several of the fighters nearest him back away quickly, turning their head towards each other in apparent surprise.

From her position, nearly a hundred yards away, Karin could feel Hitsugaya's bankai release as the air temperature dropped precipitously. _"He's felt it, too,"_ she thought, realizing the significance of his actions. _"He wants to force their hand."_ Almost simultaneously, Karin felt a coldness come over her that had nothing to do with Hitsugaya's icy Reiatsu. A presence, something underneath the surface, neither a human nor a soul.

"_There is something else here," _she thought, exploring the presence. _"Not a hollow. Something darker. More dangerous."_ She needed to let Hitsugaya and the others know.

"Soar, Masumi!" she yelled again, and a huge burst of what looked like fiery sunshine erupted from the end of her weapon and engulfed her two opponents, leaving untouched the surrounding Tenth Division shinigami who were engaged in their respective battles. The renegade fighters were temporarily stunned by the force of the attack, and, with a shunpo step, Karin was now yards away from where Hitsugaya stood. She turned to speak to him, but as she did, she saw him sway, as if hit by some invisible force. _"It's not possible," _she thought, as Hyorinmaru's wings shattered into tiny fragments of ice and the katana Hitsugaya held in his hand dissolved. He was falling, unconscious and unimpeded to the ground below.

"Toushirou!" shouted Karin, summoning all her strength and catching him as he fell. She expected him to be heavy, to force her to the ground as well, but he felt weightless in her arms, and she landed softly on the ground. Karin realized that she could no longer hear the sounds of battle; the enemy had withdrawn, as quickly as they had appeared in the darkness.

Karin lay Hitsugaya gently on the ground, and was quickly joined by the other four shinigami. She could not feel Hitsugaya's Reiatsu. _"Please let him be alive," _she thought desperately. She put her cheek to his mouth and felt his warm breath on her skin. _"Thank God,"_ she thought.

"What happened?" asked Sasaki Etsuko, the Seventh Seat, her voice filled with concern.

"I'm not sure," replied Karin, as she checked Hitsugaya for injuries. She could see none.

"_Masumi," called Karin, summoning her zanpakuto spirit, "I need your help." _She placed her hands on Hitsugaya's face, trying to sense any damage to his soul. She still could not feel his Reiatsu.

"_It is not his soul that is injured, Karin," said Masumi, after a moment. "It is not something we can repair."_

Karin pulled her hands away from his face. "He needs a healer," she said out loud, easily picking Hitsugaya up again and putting him over her shoulder. "Hayashi," she said to the tall shinigami on her right, "Contact the Soul Society and have them send more troops. Until then, I need you and the others to stay here in case they come back. See if you can figure out where they came from. Send word to Urahara if you discover anything." He nodded, and she was gone in a flash step.

******************************

Karin sat on the floor of the clinic, leaning against the wall outside the examination room. The hallway, like the rest of the clinic, was dark. It was early morning, and she had been waiting for hours outside the clinic room.

When she had brought Hitsugaya in, Karin had half expected the usual stupid comment or feigned surprise at her early morning appearance at a home she had not seen for nearly two years. Instead, her father had said nothing, but had wordlessly taken Hitsugaya from her and laid him on the examination table. "Wait here," he had said, as he closed the door behind him. Now, as the first light of morning began to illuminate the sky, she had finally lost her patience. She couldn't stand it anymore, not feeling him, not knowing. Standing up, she reached for the handle of the door. As if on cue, the door opened and Isshin came out, again closing the door behind him.

"Impatient, aren't we?" he said, a knowing smile on his face.

"How is he?" she asked, ignoring the comment.

"He'll live," said Isshin, watching her closely.

"I want to see him," she said, reaching towards the door again.

"Why didn't you tell me?" asked Isshin.

"Tell you what, Dad?"

"About you two."

"How did you know?" she asked.

"I'm not as stupid as I act," he said, grinning broadly at her. "Besides, it's written all over your face." She said nothing. This was not the time to explain all the events of the last two years.

"His life isn't in danger," said Isshin, after a moment, "but his Reiryoku and his shinigami powers are gone."

Startled, Karin looked at her father, "Is that why I couldn't sense his Reiatsu before?" Isshin nodded.

"Will his powers return?" she asked.

"I'm not sure," replied Isshin, reaching for the door and opening it.

Hitsugaya lay in the bed, eyes open, trying to focus on his surroundings. His face was ashen, and he appeared exhausted, weak. Karin moved quickly over to him, touching his forehead with her hand. "Who are you?" he asked, looking at Isshin.

"Karin's father, Kurosaki Isshin."

"Karin told me you were a shinigami. Where is she?" he asked, his voice etched with concern.

"I'm right here," laughed Karin softly, looking down at him and touching his face with her hand. Hitsugaya looked past her, as if he hadn't heard her speak.

"Where is Karin?" demanded Hitsugaya, struggling to sit up now, his voice now commanding, insistent. Isshin walked over to the bed.

"She's fine, Hitsugaya-taicho," said Isshin. "You need to lie back down. You're still weak from the attack."

Karin looked at her father. "He doesn't see or hear me, does he?" she said, her eyes full of fear. Isshin didn't answer; he didn't need to. The look on his face said it all.


	3. Soul's Memories

****

**A/N: A quick review of some Bleach terminology in this chapter, in case you were wondering - **"**Reiryoku" is the term for a soul's spiritual power/pressure, the energy that resides inside of the soul itself. It is not visible to other shinigami or souls. **"**Reiatsu" is the term for the spiritual power/pressure which emanates from a soul and is visible or felt by others. For example, in the anime and manga, Ichigo's Reiatsu is often visible when he is fighting as a bright aura which surrounds his body.**

Special thanks to Moon of Jupiter for the amazing drawing of Shiro-chan she made for me -I am honored! I've adopted it as my new avatar. This older Hitsugaya is exactly as I'd imagine him to be in this story. Thank you so much for the inspiration! Anyone who is a HitsuKarin fan should check out her art by clicking the links on her FFic profile.

-Lex

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Chapter Three: Soul's Memories

Three Days Before The Battle At Karakura:

For several years, Karin's home had been the Soul Society, having spent only one year at the Academy before her promotion to Fourth Seat of the Tenth Division. Since achieving Bankai, there had been rampant speculation among the unranked Tenth Division shinigami as to when Karin would be promoted to vice-captain or perhaps an even higher rank. The fact that Karin's brother was the famous Kurosaki-taicho of the Fifth Division added to the rumors about when Karin might leave the Tenth for bigger and better things.

For her part, however, Karin was content to remain Hitsugaya Toushirou's Fourth Seat. Ever since her defeat of the Arrancar Sovereign, Hitsugaya had stopped worrying about Karin and had trusted in her abilities. Karin and Hitsugaya had a comfortable working relationship. Nearly everyone in the Seireitei knew of their personal relationship, as well, but since it did not interfere with their work, there were few complaints from anyone except the occasional starry-eyed Academy student.

Returning from dinner with Ichigo and Rukia in the Seireitei, Karin grabbed Hitsugaya from behind as they walked through the door to his quarters. "Hitsugaya-taicho," she said, her voice full of feigned admiration, "It is _such_ an honor to meet you, sir. I've been _dying_ to be posted to the Tenth Division since I was a _baby_. I hope you'll come by the Academy soon, so I can give you a _personal_ tour of the cafeteria."

He laughed. "She wasn't _that_ bad, was she?"

"She was," Karin laughed, turning him around and planting a kiss on his lips. "You didn't realize you had such universal appeal, did you Toushirou?" The tips of his ears reddened slightly with embarrassment.

"No."

"I think Ichi-nii was jealous that she wasn't interested in him," Karin said, smiling broadly, remembering the scene at dinner. "Apparently your little demonstration with Matsumoto at the Academy was a hit. You're a rock star, Toushirou."

"I'd prefer it was your brother receiving the attention when we go out to dinner," he said, clearly embarrassed now.

"Hyorinmaru is a sexy zanpakuto," she laughed, "you'd better be careful, or you'll find Academy groupies waiting at your office door every morning."

"Groupies?" Hitsugaya asked, looking confused.

"Fans," she explained, laughing again. He still looked confused. "Yet another clever cultural reference lost on a shinigami," she said with a sigh.

"Regardless, Hyorinmaru chose me when I was a child," Hitsugaya said, uncomfortably. "It's not as though I sought him out." For a moment, his turquoise eyes flashed with something that reminded her of the boy she met years ago, moody and distant. And then the vision of the boy was gone, replaced by the image of the man she knew, broad shouldered and muscular, standing before her.

"For one of the best-known zanpakuto spirits to decide you're worthy, you must have had some sex appeal of your own." She laughed again.

"You've had too much sake," he said, looking at her as if she had lost her mind.

"Probably," she laughed, flicking an errant piece of her long brown hair out of her face, "but I'm enjoying watching you squirm, Hitsugaya-taicho."

"Seated officers aren't supposed to make their captains squirm, Kurosaki," he said, smiling and pulling her against him. "It's supposed to be the other way around."

"Really?" she said as she kissed him lightly on his neck. He inhaled sharply. "Try me." The temptation was too great. He pushed her back onto the couch and she laughed again, running her hands through his silver hair as he untied the sash of her shihakushou.

"I really need to talk to Matsumoto about my Fourth Seat," he said, deadpanning. "She's more trouble than she's worth."

"Is she?" she asked, laughing now, as she pushed his haori and shihakushou off his shoulders and ran her fingers lightly over his bare back. "That's not what I heard. I think Matsumoto would agree that your Fourth is talented in more ways than one."

"You can say that again," he murmured, and they lost themselves in each other, as they always did.

Hours later, as they lay entangled on the bed sleeping, there was a knock on the door. Hitsugaya awoke with a start, grabbing a kimono from off the wall. Opening the door, he was greeted by a shinigami holding a small scroll which bore the insignia of Yamamoto-Genryuusai's squad. There was only one reason a First Division squad member would be standing at Hitsugaya's door so early in the morning bearing a piece of parchment - the Captain-Commander had pressing business.

"Thank you," Hitsugaya said, as the messenger bowed and turned on his heel.

"What's up?" Karin asked, emerging from the bedroom with a yawn as she tied the sash on her kimono.

Hitsugaya, who had been reading the piece of parchment, looked up. "The Captain-Commander wants me to assemble a squad to investigate reports of renegade shinigami, possibly escapees from the Maggot's Nest."

"I didn't think anyone _could_ escape from that place," she said, astonished. That the Maggot's Nest's was known as a prison from which no one ever escaped was the stuff of legend in the Soul Society.

"There have been reports of shinigami attacking people and of disappearances," Hitsugaya replied, looking at the paper again. "The Captain-Commander has asked that I personally lead the squad, and he has specifically requested that you accompany me on the mission. Matsumoto will take over my duties while we're gone."

"Me?" Karin said with surprise. "Why me?"

"The attacks and disappearances have not been taking place here in the Soul Society," Histugaya answered. "They have been happening in the Real World, in and around Karakura Town."

**************************************

One Week After the Battle at Karakura:

Karin sat on the small clinic bed watching Histugaya sleep and rubbed her eyes._ "He's alive,"_ she thought. _"That's all that matters."_ It was a simple thought, but she knew that the situation was anything but simple. For her, a human being who had spent only a small portion of her life as a shinigami, the loss of her Reiryoku would be overwhelming, hard to bear. But Hitsugaya was one of the most powerful shinigami in the Soul Society, the Heavenly Guardian. It pained her to think of what this might mean for him. _"They'll find a way to restore his powers,"_ she thought, trying to convince herself.

It was nighttime when Hitsugaya finally opened his eyes. "Welcome back, Toushirou," said Karin, smiling down at him. She was sitting next to him on the bed, leaning against the wall, his head resting in her lap.

"What is this place?"

"My father's clinic in Karakura Town," she replied.

"No uniform?" he asked, noticing her jeans and t-shirt.

"My body," she said, folding her long legs beneath her. "Thought I'd try in on for size. It's been a while."

"Why am I wearing a gigai?" he asked, looking at one of his hands and flexing it. "And why can't I sense your Reiatsu?" Karin looked down, unsure of what to say.

"Karin," he said, eyes narrowed, "what aren't you telling me? What happened last night?"

"It was a week ago, now," she said, slowly. "You've been at the clinic ever since."

Hitsugaya sat up quickly. "A week," he said, surprised.

"My dad treated you after the battle," said Karin, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Your dad?" he asked, confused.

"Don't you remember? He's a shinigami, too," she said.

"That's right," said Hitsugaya, slowly, "you told me that, didn't you? I remember meeting him after the battle," said Toushirou. "He assured me you were fine."

"I was there, in the room, Toushirou. You couldn't see me."

Silence, and then the realization, "I have no Reiryoku." He said it matter-of-factly, but there was nothing matter-of-fact about it. He felt strange, almost naked. Human. He now understood why she wore her body; he would have been unable to see her without it.

"We fought a group of shinigami at the edge of town," she began.

"I remember."

"I'm not sure what happened. One minute we were fighting, and then next, you were falling, and I couldn't feel your Reiatsu. I thought you were dead…" her voice trailed off.

"The others?" he asked, with concern.

"They're fine, all of them. The fighters we met disappeared about the time you collapsed. They seem to have planned it that way."

There was a knock on the door. "Come in," said Karin, swinging her legs down from the bed.

"Urahara wants to speak with us at his shop," said Ichigo, poking his head in the room.

"Sure," she replied, standing up.

"Eh, Toushirou," Ichigo said with a casual grin, "good to see you awake for a change. Feeling better?"

"It's Hitsugaya-taicho, Kurosaki," growled Hitsugaya.

"Definitely feeling better," laughed Ichigo, looking at Karin.

"I'll be there in a few minutes, Ichigo," said Karin. Ichigo closed the door, leaving Karin and Hitsugaya alone again.

"What's he doing here?" asked Hitsugaya, frowning.

"The Captain-Commander asked the Fifth Division to assist us," replied Karin, matter-of-factly.

"What does a substitute shinigami have to do with the Fifth?" Hitsugaya asked.

"Substitute shinigami? Toushirou, Ichigo's Captain of the Fifth Division," she replied, slightly surprised. Hitsugaya said nothing, looking confused again. "Are you sure you're feeling okay? Maybe I should have my dad take a look at you."

"It's nothing," he said quickly. "I'm a little tired."

Karin looked at him with mild concern. "You should get some rest," she said, standing up and heading to the door. "I'll be back in a bit."

"I'm coming with you," he said, attempting to stand up. He swayed slightly and nearly fell over in the attempt. She caught his arm and helped him back onto the bed.

There was another knock on the door and Isshin entered, humming tunelessly. "I see you're awake, Taicho," he said. "My daughter's presence must be a panacea." Karin shook her head and laughed softly.

"Who are you?" asked Hitsugaya, clearly irritated at all the interruptions.

"Toushirou, that's my Dad. You've met him before," Karin said, now frowning.

"I am Karin's stunningly handsome father. But never fear, young Taicho," said Isshin, flashing his stupid grin at Hitsugaya and winking, "I can assure you my daughter takes after her mother. I'm quite sure any grandchildren you might decide to give me would take after her, as well." Karin sighed.

None of this appeared to strike Hitsugaya as funny, because he scowled at both of them. "I need to leave," Hitsugaya said simply.

"I don't think so, Hitsugaya-taicho," said Karin, in mock frustration. "You're unfit for duty." His scowl did not abate.

"You're not leaving here yet, Taicho," said Isshin, suddenly serious. "Unless, that is, you plan on living the rest of your life as a human. I need to speak to Retsu about how we might restore your powers before I let you go anywhere." Hitsugaya did not respond, although Isshin's words were clearly not lost on him, because he stopped trying to stand up.

"Please, Toushirou," she said, her look one of concern. "Let my dad see what Unohana-taicho has to say. Wait for me here. Please." Then she smiled again and added, "Despite what you might think to look at him, my dad is an outstanding healer. Give him a chance."

Karin left Isshin and Hitsugaya a few minutes later and headed out the front door of the clinic, having shed her body. She was surprised at how good it felt to be free of it again. _"Funny that he forgot Ichigo is a captain,"_ thought Karin as she moved across Karakura using shunpo. _"It's been years since Ichi-nii was promoted."_

********************************

Hitsugaya watched Isshin turn off the light and close the door. When he was sure Isshin was gone, he sat up in the bed. On the other side of the room there was a small window which had been left cracked open to let in the cool evening breeze. Slowly, Hitsugaya stood up and walked over to it, looking out over a small courtyard ringed with trees. It reminded him of something, a courtyard in another place, far from here. _"My office," _he thought, his mind wandering. He tried to picture the office, but the details seemed hazy, dreamlike. His hand wandered instinctively to his side, feeling for something, but there was nothing there.

"_Where is it?" _he wondered, looking around the room. He realized then that he wasn't exactly sure what he was looking for. _"Strange,"_ he thought, catching himself and shaking his head. _"I guess I really am tired."_

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the leaves on one of the trees in the courtyard move, illuminated by a nearby street lamp. He turned to face the window again, studying the courtyard more carefully now. The breeze was steady, and the shadows rippled against the ground. And again he saw it, the leaves of one of the trees moved, in a direction opposite from the wind. Instinctively, he moved to the side of the window so that he would not be visible from the courtyard.

"_Someone is out there, watching me," _he thought, his muscles tensing, his mind momentarily focused. A clear sense of danger began to pervade his senses, and he backed further away from the window. _"I need to leave this place."_

There were clothes, draped over a chair near the bed - jeans, a shirt, a jacket, socks and shoes. Without turning on the light, he dressed quickly. The clothes felt strange to him, foreign, but they fit perfectly._ "It will have to do," _he thought, _"until I…"_ Again, his mind wandered. _"Until what?"_ He was unsure.

He walked over to the door, listening for noise outside. _"I promised her I would wait,"_ he thought, hesitating. In his mind's eye, he could see Karin's face, her smile. Her name escaped him. He felt tired again, his eyelids felt heavy.

"_No,"_ he thought. _"It's too dangerous to rest. I need to get out of this place."_ The instinct for self-preservation now overwhelming, Hitsugaya no longer listened to the many thoughts that flitted in and out of his mind. He grabbed the door handle and pulled, revealing a dark corridor. It was empty. Silently, he stole down the corridor until he came to glass door which opened onto a short walkway and the street beyond. He opened the door and disappeared into the darkness.


	4. Tea for Three

**Chapter Four: Tea for Three**

Karin met Ichigo at the entrance to the Urahara Shoten. "It took me a while to convince Toushirou to stay put," she said apologetically as they walked into the shop.

"You okay, little sis?" he asked. _"She looks exhausted,"_ he thought, noting the dark circles under her eyes.

"I'm fine, Ichi-nii," she replied, smiling weakly.

"You just missed Rukia," he said. "Yamamoto ordered her to report on the investigation. She'll be back later."

"Any news?" she asked, hopefully.

"None yet. Urahara suspects something, though," he said. "I'm sure of it."

They walked into the living quarters of the shop and found Urahara sitting at a table sipping tea. He looked up from under the brim of his striped hat as Karin entered the room and smiled coyly. "Kurosaki-chan," he said, "I trust the ailing Taicho is feeling better?"

"Hmm," she replied, nodding curtly. One week of next to no sleep, and she was in no mood to humor him. "You wanted to speak with me, Urahara-san?"

"Tea, Kurosaki-chan? Kurosaki-taicho?" he asked, leaning over the low table and pouring two cups of tea. He handed one to her and the other to Ichigo, still smiling. Karin took a deep breath and fought the urge to refuse, instead taking the cup from him without protest.

"Thank you," she said, sitting down. Ichigo sat down next to her, teacup in hand.

"What do you know, Urahara?" asked Ichigo impatiently.

"Perhaps nothing, Kurosaki-taicho," mused Urahara, inhaling the steam from his cup of tea and sipping it delicately. "Still, I thought it best to share my paltry knowledge with you both."

"You're full of shit, Urahara," said Ichigo, scowling now. "You know plenty." Ichigo shot Karin a look of complete frustration. She realized then that she was observing something of a ritual between the two men.

"Urahara-san," Karin said, before Urahara could parry, determined to press on, "we'd appreciate anything you may be able to tell us." Urahara smiled at Karin appreciatively, glancing at Ichigo with a look of satisfaction that said, 'See what good manners will get you?' Ichigo made a sound like a grunt and put his tea cup down on the table, too hard; drops of tea flew into the air. Karin took a sip of her tea and smiled back at Urahara.

"You know, of course, Kurosaki-chan, that I used to be in charge of a certain prison affectionately referred to as the 'Maggot's Nest'?" asked Urahara, refilling his cup as he spoke.

"Your reputation precedes you, Urahara-san," Karin said with just the right amount of awe in her voice. This response wasn't entirely truthful because, although she had certainly heard of the Maggot's Nest, Karin had no idea that Urahara had ever been involved in running the place. The white lie achieved its intended effect, however; Urahara almost glowed with pride, lifting his now-refilled tea cup with relish to his lips. Ichigo snorted.

"Under my careful watch, of course," explained Urahara, face still flush with satisfaction, "no prisoner ever escaped."

"Yamamoto already told us that he suspects the escapees from the prison are in this area," said Ichigo dismissively.

"That is true, Kurosaki-taicho," crooned Urahara. "However, there is something that the Captain-Commander refuses to acknowledge."

"And what is that, Urahara-taicho?" asked Karin, her tone patient despite the fact that she was beginning to understand her brother's frustration with Urahara's grandstanding.

"There is no way to escape Maggot's Nest unless you have the assistance of someone on the outside," replied Urahara smugly.

"So someone in the Seireitei is helping these punks escape?" interjected Ichigo.

"Yes, Kurosaki-taicho. However, I do not believe the word 'punks' accurately describes the, ah, _unique_ qualities of these prisoners," replied Urahara. The tone of his voice reminded Karin of a parent explaining a particularly challenging concept to a child, and she struggled to keep a straight face.

"What qualities are you referring to, Urahara-san?" asked Karin, biting the side of her tongue to keep from laughing.

"Ah," said Urahara, "I am glad that you asked, Kurosaki-chan. You see, the Maggot's Nest is home to only the most dangerous former shinigami. That, and the fact that the majority of the residents have been locked up for so long that they are not, shall we say, in the best of mental states? And, of course, being locked up for so long in a place where they have been unable to use their spirit energy, it is likely that their powers, once released, might be even stronger than before."

Karin said nothing. The thought that a group of half-crazed, extremely powerful former shinigami might be in the Real World was hardly a pleasant prospect.

"So you think the shinigami that attacked Hitsugaya were escaped prisoners?" asked Ichigo.

"Possibly," replied Urahara, refilling his tea again.

"Come on. Even the most powerful shinigami wouldn't be able to completely remove the spirit power of a Gotei Thirteen captain," said Ichigo, shaking his head. "How do you explain that?"

"I'm so glad you asked, Kurosaki-taicho," answered Urahara, lifting the brim of his hat and looking directly at Ichigo. "You see, I believe these 'renegade shinigami', as Yamamoto-soutaicho likes to call them, have procured themselves a weapon. A very powerful weapon. The Sealing Stone."

"Never heard of it," said Ichigo, dismissively.

"I see," said Urahara, smiling broadly now. "The Captain-Commander has conveniently neglected to tell you that the Seireitei let one of the most powerful weapons created by my dear friend, Aizen Sousuke, out of its grasp."

"Aizen's dead, Urahara," Ichigo said, now tapping his foot impatiently.

"So he is," said Urahara, still smiling smugly. "But there were others who worked with Aizen to develop the technology to modify souls, create Vizards and Arrancar. One of those people was a former colleague of mine, Raiden. Charming man.

"Aizen left him behind when he fled the Soul Society. That left Raiden slightly," Urahara paused for effect, "chagrined."

"So this Raiden," interjected Karin, now mesmerized by Urahara's story, "he brought the weapon here, to the Real World?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes," replied Urahara, clearly relishing the looks of eager impatience on Karin and Ichigo's faces as he slowly unfolded the story. "To be more precise, it was a colleague of Raiden's, Yamashita Kazumi, who brought the Stone to the Real World. After he killed Raiden, of course. I believe Yamashita has joined forces with these so-called renegade shinigami."

"The shinigami we fought three days ago were holding back," said Karin, realization dawning on her. "Do you think they were specifically targeting Toush - I mean Hitsugaya-taicho - with the weapon?"

"I am not sure," replied Urahara. "Perhaps he _was_ their target, or perhaps they simply wished to test the Stone on someone of his strength. That is unclear."

"There's something else," said Karin, recalling the battle. "Something that really worries me."

"Yes?" said Urahara, peering at her with unabashed curiosity this time.

"I felt something, when we were fighting. Right before Hitsugaya-taicho was injured. A presence. I don't think anyone else felt it."

"Interesting," said Urahara, tilting his head slightly. "May I ask what this presence felt like?"

"Dark, dangerous," replied Karin, frowning as she remembered. "Not a hollow or a shinigami. It didn't feel like Reiatsu. In fact, I've never felt anything like it before."

"Curious," said Urahara, ominously.

"What does it mean?" asked Ichigo, tired of sitting back and patiently listening to the conversation.

"Hmmm," Urahara mused, "I do not know. It is, however, quite interesting."

The light from the windows caught Karin's eye. _"Toushirou,"_ she thought, with a pang of guilt. _"I told him I'd be back soon."_ She stood up abruptly.

"I'm sorry, I really have to go," she said, bowing to him. "Thank you, Urahara-san."

"Leaving so soon?" cooed Urahara, smiling at Karin.

"I need to check on Toushirou," replied Karin quickly, not even bothering to correct herself this time. "Thank you for your assistance, Urahara-san."

"I understand," said Urahara, smiling coyly. "Your Taicho is waiting." Karin bowed again before hurrying out of the shop and into the sunshine.

*************************************

The sun was beginning to rise as Hitsugaya reached the Karakura Town park. Even at this early hour, the park was alive with activity. Runners and bikers alike traveled the footpaths, and there were groups of students playing soccer and baseball before school. Plenty of people. He would be safe here; the people who pursued him were unlikely to try anything in such a public place.

Hitsugaya had remembered the town and this park well enough to find his way from the clinic. Still, he found it frustrating that he could not remember _why_ he knew this place. In the two hours that he had wandered about town, hiding from the people who were following him, his mind had been a blur of thoughts and memories, very few of which made any sense to him. At least in this place, out in the open, he could rest in relative safety. _"I just need some sleep,"_ he kept thinking to himself. _"It will all make sense after I've had a chance to rest." _

He chose a spot near the entrance of the park, at the convergence of several heavily-traveled footpaths, and lay down on the grass. There, as the sunlight began to flood the sky, he closed his eyes. Exhausted, he fell asleep almost immediately.

******************************

_He sat on the steps of a familiar looking building, looking out into the garden. He was not alone. "You were right," said the dark-haired woman with the beautiful face, "I was afraid." He reached out to touch her but she began to walk away from him. "I love you, Toushirou," she said. _

_He tried to run after her, but his legs wouldn't move. He shouted at her to stop, that he didn't want her to leave, but she kept walking. "No!" he yelled. He couldn't lose her again. Not now. Not when they finally were together, happy. But then she was gone, and he was standing at a busy train station. _

_In the background, snow-covered mountains rose beyond the houses. It was cold, but he didn't mind it. Still, in the crowded station, without her, he felt small, afraid. Just a boy, lost in a sea of people, jostled about like a small doll. "I need to find her," he thought, desperately. "She's here, I know it."_

"_Toushirou!" came the voice from over the din of the crowd._

"_I'm Toushirou," he answered, looking up into the face of the dark-haired woman again, "Who are you?" _

"_I'm a friend," she said, looking down at him, her face beautiful, kind._

"_Take my hand, Toushirou," she said, reaching out to him. He reached out to take her hand, but she vanished along with the train station, and he stood, at the edge of a sheer cliff, looking out at a frightening creature with wings of ice, floating just off the rim of the precipice._

"_You are lost, Guardian," said the ice dragon, its eyes the color of the ocean._

"_Yes," he said, surprised that he did not fear the enormous beast. "What do you know of me?"_

"_That, I cannot answer," replied the dragon, "but you may follow." _

_Looking down at the chasm before him, he shook his head. "I cannot follow," he said. The dragon said nothing, but spread its wings to their fullest, turned, and flew away._

******************************

Hitsugaya awoke with a start. The sun was nearly directly overhead now; he had been asleep for hours. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. His head throbbed, but he felt much better than before. He stood up and dusted himself off.

"_She is the answer,"_ he thought, remembering the woman in his dreams.

* * *

**A/N: Those of you who have read "Empathy" will recognize some of Hitsugaya's dream/memories from that story. Next chapter will be up in 3-4 days and includes some IchiRuki fluffiness for those of you who have been waiting to see more of that pairing in this story. Hope you enjoy! -Lex**


	5. The Calm Before

**Chapter Five: The Calm Before**

Ichigo sat on the roof of the Urahara Shoten, watching the clouds moving slowly across the sky. It was peaceful here in the Real World, a far cry from the constant activity of the Fifth Division barracks, where he was often barraged with requests from his troops and usually inundated with paperwork. Now, as he waited for Rukia to return from her audience with Yamamoto, Ichigo was enjoying the pleasant laziness of an early Spring morning. He leaned back and closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of the sunshine on his face. Less than an hour later, however, he awoke to a sharp pain in his side, and he struggled to keep himself from falling off the roof.

"What the hell was that for?!" he shouted, looking up to see Rukia, white Haori flapping in the breeze, her foot still slightly extended from having kicked him. "This isn't a gigai, dammit, you could have killed me!"

"Serves you right for sleeping on the roof," she said, laughing. "Besides, Kurosaki-taicho, you're out of uniform."

"The sun feels better when I'm in my body," he said defensively, dusting off his jeans and t-shirt and settling back down onto the warm roof.

"How's Hitsugaya-taicho?" she asked, her tone now serious.

"He's awake," replied Ichigo. "Dad says he'll be fine, but Karin's worried - says he's tired, disoriented, forgetting things."

"Has he regained his powers?" asked Rukia, tentatively, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.

"No. Dad's working with Unohana-taicho and some of the other healers at the Fourth Division to see what they can do. Maybe he'll just regain his powers on his own."

"I doubt it," Rukia said, frowning.

"You know something," Ichigo said. "I know that face."

"The Captain-Commander believes there's a connection between Hitsugaya's injuries and a weapon," she answered.

"The Sealing Stone," said Ichigo, thinking out loud.

"You know about it?" she asked, surprised. "The Captain-Commander told me that only Kurotsuchi-taicho and Soifon-taicho had been briefed about the Stone, for security reasons."

Ichigo laughed, "Leave it to the Old Man to keep valuable information from the rest of the captains. Urahara always seems to know more than anyone in the Soul Society."

"Ichigo!" said Rukia, reprovingly.

"In any case, Urahara didn't explain much," he answered. "He never does."

Ignoring the opportunity to take the bait and listen to Ichigo complain about Urahara, Rukia continued, "The Stone is said to temporarily remove a shinigami's powers."

"Temporarily?"

"Yes, for a period of a day or two," she replied. "But there are reports that the ultimate goal of those who possess the Stone was for the weapon to permanently remove those powers."

"You're thinking that the people who have the Stone figured out how to make it permanent?" asked Ichigo.

Rukia nodded. It was not a pleasant thought. "The Captain-Commander has ordered the two of us to find the Sealing Stone and destroy it."

"Us?" wondered Ichigo aloud. "Why us? Seems a little strange to send two Gotei Thirteen captains wandering around the Real World without any backup, looking for a bunch of thugs with a weapon like that."

"The Captain-Commander believes we may be uniquely qualified for this mission," she replied impatiently. Ichigo stared at her blankly. "Idiot," she said, with frustration, "what other two shinigami have an inner hollow to tap into?"

"What difference would that make?" asked Ichigo, still looking confused.

"Sometimes you really are dense, Ichigo, " said Rukia, scowling. "Kurotsuchi-taicho and the other scientists at the Shinigami Research Institute believe that the weapon was a byproduct of Aizen's research on hollowfication. If that is true, then perhaps the weapon was created to compliment the use of Vizards or Arrancar in battle."

"So we might be immune to the weapon?" asked Ichigo, understanding finally dawning.

"Precisely," replied Rukia, relieved to have made her point.

"Sit down," said Ichigo, "you're making me nervous standing there." Rukia raised an eyebrow, but obliged. Ichigo scooted over, closer to her, so that their legs were touching.

"What else did you learn?" asked Ichigo, casually placing his arm around her.

Struggling to keep her focus, Rukia said, "I met with Sakamoto Naoki, Third Seat of the Second Division and Commander of the Detention Unit. The Second Division is conducting an investigation into how the prisoners were able to escape the Maggot's Nest. Soifon-taicho is furious that someone in her Division might have assisted the prisoners' escape."

Ichigo, who had barely been listening to Rukia, now leaned over and pulled her hair away from her ear. "Ichigo!" said Rukia, startled, as he kissed her ear and began to work his way down her neck.

"Hmmm?" said Ichigo, undaunted.

"We're supposed to be working," said Rukia, sternly.

"And since when do we have to work all the time?" he murmured, now kissing the back of her neck. She shivered involuntarily, and he laughed. "The Thirteenth Division doesn't need its captain every second of the day."

"Hitsugaya-taicho has been injured, Ichigo, I don't think we should…."

"I bet Karin is giving him her own special brand of medicine right now," he said, whispering in her ear.

Giving in, Rukia turned to Ichigo and shook her head softly. She knew she had already lost this fight. Sighing, she smiled at him and he pulled her close, kissing her. "Kurosaki-taicho," she said, reprovingly, as she emerged from the kiss, "you're a slacker, you know."

"Hmmm," he said, as he pulled her back towards him, "at least I have you to keep me in line, Kuchiki-taicho."

***************************************

Several hours later, Rukia and Ichigo sat, eating lunch from bento boxes on the ground in the practice area under Urahara's shop. Having spent most of the morning engaged in activities other than those mandated their respective commands, both shinigami were feeling slightly guilty, and had resolved to spend the entire afternoon training. They had nearly finished eating when Ichigo noticed a lone figure descend the long ladder steps to the training grounds. He recognized his sister's Reiatsu even before she appeared in front of them, in a blur of Shunpo and dust. She was clearly distressed.

"Karin," said Ichigo, standing up quickly, "what's the matter?"

"Toushirou," she said, breathlessly, "he's gone."

"Gone?" said Rukia, startled.

"I've looked everywhere, but I can't find him," said Karin. "He left the Clinic sometime before dawn. I can't feel his Reiatsu, so I don't know how to track him. I've been walking around town for hours, asking people if they've seen him."

"And?" asked Ichigo, concerned now.

"A few people remembered him," said Karin. "One said they saw him in the town park, sleeping, but I looked all over the park, and even from the sky, I couldn't spot him. He's just…gone."

"We'll find him," said Ichigo. "Who knows, maybe he just wanted to take a walk. He could be back already."

"I'm not so sure, Ichi-nii," said Karin, her voice full of concern. "When I left him before, he seemed confused. He couldn't remember things - things he shouldn't have been forgetting, like the fact that you've been a captain for years now, or even meeting Dad the night before. I'm afraid that he might not remember where to come back to."

***********************************

It was nearly ten o'clock when Karin reached the train station. She had not originally planned on looking for Hitsugaya there; the thought that he might no longer be in Karakura was something she had not wanted to consider. Now, however, having spent the entire day with Ichigo, Rukia, Urahara, Tessai, Ururu and Jinta searching for Hitsugaya, Karin realized they had exhausted all other options and it was highly likely Hitsugaya had left town.

The train station was nearly empty, save a few commuters from Tokyo who had stayed late at the office and were trudging wearily home after a very long day. Only one ticket booth appeared to be open. The attendant, a middle-aged woman with graying hair, yawned as she counted out the money to close out the cash drawer.

"I'm closed, Miss," the attendant said, pointing to the placard that showed the booth's hours of operation, and getting back to the task at hand.

"Sumimasem," said Karin, politely. "I'm not looking to purchase a ticket. I'm looking for someone. I was hoping you might have seen him."

The woman did not look up. "I see so many people," she said, sighing.

"You might remember him," Karin said, hopefully. "Broad shouldered, muscular, spiky silver hair?"

The attendant looked up at Karin, a look of slight surprise on her weary face. "Actually, I _do_ remember him," said the attendant. "Strange one. Very confused."

"Confused?" asked Karin.

"Yes," said the attendant. "He came to the window around lunchtime, but he didn't even understand he needed a ticket to ride the train. When I told him it would cost him more than fourteen-thousand Yen*, he seemed disoriented, lost. He apologized and mumbled something about having no money, and then just left. Wandered off in the direction of the platforms and I never saw him again."

Karin's face brightened. "Do you remember where he wanted to go?" she asked.

"Of course, Miss," replied the woman. "He wanted to know how to get to Sapporo."

"Thank you so much," said Karin, smiling for the first time since Hitsugaya's disappearance. "You don't know how much you've helped me." Karin started to leave, but, changing her mind, stopped and turned back towards the ticket booth.

"Sorry to bother you again, Ma'am," Karin said to the attendant. "Can you tell me when the next train to Sapporo leaves?"

"There's an early train that leaves at five in the morning," replied the ticket attendant. "It arrives in Sapporo around three in the afternoon."

"Thank you," said Karin again, bowing.

***********************************

The next morning, after another night of restless sleep, Karin boarded the early train for Sapporo. Ichigo had tried to convince Karin not to leave, telling her that there was no proof that Hitsugaya had, actually, left on the afternoon train. Karin, however, was adamant on this point. "I know him, Ichi-nii," she had said. "That's where he lived as a child; it's the only place he really knows in the Real World. If he's lost and confused, that's the one place he would seek out. I just _feel_ it."

"Just a 'feeling' isn't enough to…," Ichigo had started to say, but Rukia had interrupted.

"Baka. Your sister's feelings about things aren't just hunches. Her zanpakuto's special abilities are empathetic. If she feels Hitsugaya-taicho's gone to Sapporo, Ichigo, she's probably right."

Now as she sat, looking out the train window, Karin was more convinced than ever that she was right. Hitsugaya's memories of his childhood had survived death and had haunted him for years. Sapporo, with its high mountains and cool weather, matched what Karin knew of Hitsugaya's childhood. If Hitsugaya had begun to lose his memories of his life as a shinigami, she was certain he would rely even more upon his memories of his life, and death, in the Real World.

"_Please,"_ Karin thought, _"let me be right."_

**A/N: A little background for those readers who have not read, "King's Key: The Four Prongs." Rukia is now Captain of the Thirteenth Division (Ukitake-taicho retired), and also has an inner hollow, courtesy of Aizen Sousuke and the Hogyoku. Also, 1****4,000 Japanese Yen is the rough equivalent of about $140 US Dollars. And, finally, "sumimasem" means "excuse me" in Japanese (transliterated, of course!).**

**Next Chapter: "The Journey Man." What will Hitsugaya do in Sapporo with only his childhood memories to guide him? And are there some memories that simply cannot be erased?**


	6. The Journey Man

Chapter Six: The Journey Man

_"You are running," said the dragon, fanning himself lazily in the sunshine with an icy wing. "You will not find me where you seek me."_

_"Where is your home, then?" asked the silver-haired Guardian._

_"My home is inside your soul," replied the dragon, yawning and stretching his long neck. The dragon's head now towered over the Guardian, and the creature's turquoise eyes stared through the Guardian as though he was transparent._

_"My soul?" asked the Guardian._

_"Yes - that which defines you and makes you unique."_

_"But I don't remember," the Guardian said, frustrated._

_"Memories are only one lens through which to view the soul," replied the dragon, his eyes glowing brighter. "The soul exists regardless of the world around you. You will not find your soul by chasing a memory."_

********************************

For Hitsugaya Toushirou, memory had become something fleeting and elusive. Keenly aware that he was no longer a child of seven years old, Hitsugaya nevertheless remembered nothing beyond that age. Or, to be more precise, nothing specific about his life after the day he became separated from his mother in the train station. The day he had died.

The day of Hitsugaya's death was indelibly etched in his mind, and he dreamed of it whenever he closed his eyes. But there were other dreams, too, the most haunting of which were of a woman, tall and beautiful with long dark hair, whose eyes saw clear through to his soul. Hitsugaya dreamed also of the ice dragon, although these dreams were of an entirely different quality than the others. In them, Hitsugaya felt as though he were not really dreaming, but that he had somehow transported from the world of reality into another place entirely.

Instinct had brought him to the island of Hokkaido. That, and the full-color poster he had seen at the Karakura train station of the city of Sapporo, with the familiar tall mountains of his youth looming in the background. Driven by the dreams and his childhood memories, Hitsugaya had now arrived by train in the northernmost part of Japan. Here, it was early spring, and the snow-covered mountains called to him like echoes of his past.

He had arrived in Sapporo nearly ten hours after leaving Karakura. Unable to pay for a ticket, he had spent most of the trip hiding in bathrooms and the dining car to avoid being thrown off the train by the conductor. He had seen little of the Japanese countryside, and he worried that his instincts about this place had been wrong. Now, looking around, he felt immensely relieved. Although he had no recollection of the large city, the mountains felt instantly familiar to him. He had been here before; he was close to home.

He walked off the platform and into the train station, looking around in wonder at the bright signs, vending machines, and colorful maps that lined the walls. He walked up to one vending machine selling brightly colored boxes of food and drink, and ran his hand over the lit surface. As he did so, he saw a large photograph mounted on the wall, of a wooden building with a large clock face. "I've been there," he thought, remembering how, as a child, he had held his mother's hand as his father recounted the history of the Tokeidai, the Sapporo Clock Tower.

_"The Tokeidai clock was made in Boston, Toushirou" said his father, smiling at the small child holding his wife's hand. "Do you know where that is?"_

_"Across the Pacific Ocean," replied the boy, his expression serious, "In Boston, Massachusetts, the United States."_

_"You are a smart boy," said his father, his face lit with pride. His mother beamed at him._

Hitsugaya walked out of the station and onto the small square outside. There were a number of small shops on the square, and he walked around, trying to familiarize himself with the city and listening to conversations in order to gather information about the new world in which he found himself. As he wandered the square, he looked in the shop windows at items displayed there. Looking in one of the windows, however, it was not the books and magazines that caught Hitsugaya's eye. He stared at his own reflection, clearly visible in the afternoon sunshine. He did not recognize the face.

He had not expected to see a child; he was too aware of his own physical presence not to have known he was a grown man. Still, what he saw in the window surprised him. He looked very different from the people he had seen on the street and on the train, with his fierce turquoise eyes and silvery hair which stubbornly stuck out at odd angles. He unconsciously moved his hand to smooth his hair, with little success.

_"What are we going to do with you, Toushirou?" laughed his mother, trying to comb his unruly locks. "Just like your father's hair. It has a mind of its own."_

Strange, too, was his face. It was the face of a man, but it betrayed no age. His skin was smooth, with no hint of wrinkles, even around his eyes and mouth. Intuitively, he knew he was not young, that this youthful face did not match what he knew of his own experiences. He could not find the memories to explain this self-appraisal, but everything in his being told him that he had decades of experience and training. The face in the window was an enigma.

As he stood there trying to comprehend, there was a loud noise from behind him, and he heard a scream. He turned around to see a young woman, struggling with a group of men on the small street which led off the square, several yards away from where he stood. Without hesitating, he headed down the street. Several bystanders, who had also heard the scream, now stopped to watch the woman as she struggled to hold onto her handbag and several shopping bags.

"Leave her be," said Hitsugaya to the would-be attackers, his tone commanding.

The men turned to look at him. "Go away, punk," growled one of the men, who walked up to Hitsugaya. The man, the apparent leader of the group, was at least a head taller than Hitsugaya.

"I said, leave her alone," repeated Hitsugaya, looking up at the man and scowling.

The man laughed, and moved to punch Hitsugaya in the face. With amazing speed, Hitsugaya leapt high into the air and spun around, kicking the man hard on the chin. The man stumbled backwards several feet, rubbing his chin, and then rushed back towards Hitsugaya with a shout. This time, Hitsugaya stood still, waiting until the man was less than a foot away from him before hitting him hard in the abdomen with his elbow. The man doubled over in pain and backed away towards the buildings behind him. The two other would-be attackers watched in stunned amazement to see their much larger comrade so easily beaten by a much smaller man.

"What the hell are you two doing?!" yelled the man Hitsugaya had hit, to his two compatriots. He struggled to stand up. "Get him!" The two men looked at each other, clearly more concerned for their own welfare than that of their stricken companion. "If you two don't beat the shit out of him," yelled the leader, "I'll fucking kill you!"

This seemed to be ample motivation for the other two men, who let go of the woman's bags, and ran at Hitsugaya. Hitsugaya, brow furrowed in concentration, moved quickly, easily tripping one of the two men as he ran, and hitting the other hard on the back of the neck. The second man fell to the ground, face forward, unconscious. The first man got back to his feet and lunged for Hitsugaya's waist, hoping to knock him over onto the pavement.

Hitsugaya moved fast, effectively swinging the first man around and sending him rolling several feet across the pavement. He landed with a resounding thud against one of the buildings and lay still. From behind him, Hitsugaya heard the footsteps of the gang leader. Now recovered from the attack, he had pulled a small knife from his belt and was aiming for Hitsugaya's back. Spinning about, Hitsugaya jumped up and kicked the man's arm, sending the knife skittering across the pavement. Clutching his right arm, the leader ran off down the street.

For a moment, Hitsugaya just stood there. _"I did that?"_ he thought, taking in the scene. He looked down at his hands, flexing them. It was as if his body had acted completely of its own accord, without thought. _"Instinctively,"_ he marveled, _"as though fighting was second nature to me."_ He walked over and picked up the knife, putting it in his pocket.

"Thank you," came a voice from behind him - a woman's voice, slightly shaky. Hitsugaya turned around to see the woman who had been the intended victim of the attack, kneeling down on the ground and picking up the contents of the two bags she had carried. Hitsugaya said nothing, but bent down and began to help her gather up the groceries strewn over the pavement.

She was no more than twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, judging by her face and her clothing. She wore a short skirt, a layered cardigan sweater set, and flat shoes. Her auburn hair was knotted in a bun at the nape of her neck. Stopping for a moment, she looked up at him, her face inches from his. "You're hurt," she said, retrieving a tissue from her handbag and reaching up to wipe the blood from his face. Instinctively, he pulled away from her, touching his hand to his face.

"I'm fine," he said. "It's not my blood." She smiled at him as she picked up the last bit of food and replaced it in the bag. They stood up at the same time. Hitsugaya, ill at ease to find himself face to face with the woman again, stepped back a few feet.

"I'm Shimizu Nobuko," said the woman, extending her free hand to him. He looked at her outstretched hand for a moment, and then took it, awkwardly, shaking it hard, as he remembered his parents doing. She smiled again.

"Hitsugaya Toushirou," he said, bowing slightly as he released her hand, having held onto it slightly longer than was customary. He felt out of his element, uncomfortable speaking to her.

"Hitsugaya-sama, that was incredible, how you fought those men. It seemed so…so easy for you," said Nobuko.

Hitsugaya, slightly embarrassed, forced himself to look into her eyes and said, "I don't deserve your praise, Nobuko-san. I was…They were unskilled." It was true; the attackers had been unskilled. Still, Hitsugaya could not explain the ease with which he had defeated them, nor could he explain his lack of fear for his own safety.

"You don't give yourself enough credit," replied Nobuko, smiling appreciatively at him. There was a brief moment of uncomfortable silence, and then she asked, "You're not from here, are you, Hitsugaya-sama?"

"I am from around here," he replied, hastily adding, "but I've been gone a long time. I just got back today." He indicated the train station.

"Do you know anyone in Sapporo?" she asked.

"No," he replied, truthfully.

"Then let me make you some dinner," she said, lifting the bags of groceries slightly to indicate the food, "there's plenty here for two."

He hesitated, unsure if he could trust her. "I have no reason to believe she is a threat," he thought, considering her for a moment and finding nothing that instinctively aroused his suspicion. He felt his stomach constrict uncomfortably with hunger.

"I would appreciate that, Nobuko-san," he said, formally, deciding that his immediate need for food outweighed the slight risk she possibly posed. And, sensing that it might be inappropriate for him to accept immediately, he added, "If it's not too much trouble, that is."

"Of course not," she said, smiling. "It's the least I can do to thank you for rescuing me." Hitsugaya glanced over to where the remaining two gang members lay and, as he watched, one of them began to stir.

"We should leave," said Hitsugaya, motioning to the two men. "They'll be awake soon." Another flash of memory - his father offering to carry his mother's suitcase as she stepped off a train - and Hitsugaya reached out for the grocery bags Nobuko carried. She handed them to him, thanking him for his kindness once more.

She led him down several narrow streets to a small apartment building about a mile from the train station. As they walked, Hitsugaya unconsciously looked around, reading the street names and committing the layout of the neighborhood to memory. When they reached the apartment building, Nobuko turned to Hitsugaya and said, "This is my home, Hitsugaya-sama. It isn't much, but…"

"I'm sure it's more than adequate," he said, interrupting her awkwardly. She smiled at him as she opened the front door.

They climbed five flights of steps to the top floor of the building. From time to time, he glanced around and behind them, always aware of his surroundings and on guard for the people he believed had been following him since he left Karakura. He did not sense anyone, although he was still convinced that they were out there - waiting.

He followed her down a small hallway to a doorway at the end, and watched with curiosity as she inserted her key in the lock and opened the door. He had no memory of ever seeing a key before. The apartment was small, consisting of one room which included a tiny kitchen, a small table, a convertible futon, and a sink. It was brightly decorated, with red and white curtains, paintings of the Japanese coast, and a few family photos.

Hitsugaya walked over to the photos after depositing the groceries on the table. One photo, in particular, intrigued him: a young girl, flanked by a man and a woman, with mountains rising in the background. He picked it up, running his fingers over the glass.

"That's me, when I was a child with my parents," said Nobuko, glancing over her shoulder as she unpacked the bags of groceries.

"Where is this?" he asked, studying the mountains in the photograph.

"Otaru," she answered. "That's where I grew up."

"Otaru," repeated Hitsugaya, deep in thought. The name was familiar. "Is that far from here?"

"No," she replied, "it's only a few hours from here by train. People used to walk from here to Otaru, I'm told."

Hitsugaya replaced the photo and walked over to the kitchen area. "May I help you?" he asked.

"That's very kind of you, Hitsugaya-sama, but I like to cook. Why don't you lie down on the couch and rest a bit; you must be tired from your trip," she said, smiling at him.

"Thank you," he said. "I am tired." He walked over to the couch and lay down, thinking again about the photograph. The mountains in the photo felt very familiar to him. "Could Otaru be the place from my memory?" he wondered. He closed his eyes and tried to picture the railway station. "The woman in the dream is somehow connected to that place," he thought, yawning.

He had resolved just to rest, concerned that sleep in this place might be risky. However, the moment he closed his eyes, sleep overtook him, his exhausted body refusing to obey his commands. And he dreamed.

_The sky was clear and cloudless. He heard the sound of laughter, like music, drifting in from the garden. "Toushirou," she laughed, "you were supposed to meet me out here an hour ago. What are you doing?"_

_"I'm trying to finish this report," he replied. "It's due tonight."_

_"Today's your day off. Even a captain deserves a break, once in a while."_

_"It'll just be a few more minutes. I promise," he called out the window. He looked back down at the papers and began to write again._

_Soft hands encircled his chest, and he could feel her breath against his neck. "I'm impatient," she said, and he could hear the smile in her voice. She kissed him behind his ear, running her fingers through his hair as she did so. He moaned and put down the pen, turning around to face her._

_"I can't concentrate when you're that close to me," he said, as she sat in his lap and wrapped her arms around him again._

_"Good," she said, laughing again. "That was the general idea."_

_He pulled her close to him, and his heart began to race, like a child seeing the ocean for the first time. "I'll finish it later," he said, standing up and leading her out to the garden._

_Outside, she lay down on the grass, pulling him down beside her. He rolled over onto his side and reached towards her face, pushing a strand of brown hair out of her eyes. He smiled and breathed in the warm afternoon air._

_"I love you, Toushirou," she said._

_He reached for her, but, as he did, a feeling of dark dread overcame him. He looked back into her face, but this time, she was not smiling. Her face had changed; where there were once soft brown eyes, her eyes were now glittering black, hard. She laughed, and the sound of her laugh made his skin crawl; it was harsh, biting and without soul._

_The scene shifted. He stood in a large room devoid of furnishings. There were others there, too, their faces obscured, unrecognizable. Before them stood an old man – commanding, confident. He wore a black Shihakushou with a white Haori draped over his shoulders, and his long grey-white beard was laced with a black tie. He spoke in a deep, resounding voice._

_"She cannot be trusted," said the old man, his battle-worn face cold and masklike._

_Although no name was spoken, Hitsugaya knew of whom the old man spoke: the woman with the long, brown hair. He tried to argue, to tell the old man he was mistaken, but the man silenced him with a raised hand. "She has assisted the enemy. She must be punished."_

He awoke with a start, the ghost of her name on his lips. "No," he said to himself, sitting up on the couch. He looked around the room quickly, getting his bearings, reassuring himself that he was in a safe place. His heart was pounding with fear.

_"I let down my guard,"_ he thought, angry with himself. _"I let myself fall asleep – I allowed myself to be vulnerable."_

"Are you alright, Hitsugaya-sama?" asked Nobuko.

"I'm fine," he said, embarrassed. "I'm sorry to have disturbed you."

"You haven't bothered me at all," she said. "Dinner is ready. Why don't you join me?" She gestured to the small table, which was now filled with food.

"It smells wonderful," he said, honestly. He couldn't remember the last time he had eaten anything.

"That's very kind of you," she said, as they sat.

"Thank you again for asking me to join you for dinner," he said, stiffly, keenly uncomfortable, but following his gut feeling that such conversation was appropriate and even expected under the circumstances.

"It's the least I could do," Nobuko replied demurely. Hitsugaya shifted awkwardly in his seat.

"How long have you been living in Sapporo?" he asked, deftly picking up a grain of rice that had migrated to the tablecloth. He smiled, remembering his mother chastising him for eating off the table.

"About a year," she replied. "I work at a small shop a few blocks from here. Did you come here for work, as well?"

"No," he replied. "But I intend to look for work in the morning."

"What kind of work?" she asked as she sipped her water.

"I…I'm not sure," replied Hitsugaya, stammering slightly. He had no idea what 'work' really was, let alone what kind of work he was qualified to do.

"We could always use help at the shop, stocking shelves and delivering goods to customers here," she said. "The owner, Mrs. Nakamura, is very kind and pays well."

"Thank you," said Hitsugaya. "I would appreciate that."

A few minutes of awkward silence again.

"Hitsugaya-sama," said Nobuko, at last, "when you woke up before, you seemed upset."

"It's nothing," said Hitsugaya, his face hardening.

"I'm sorry," she said, flustered, "I didn't mean to…"

"Please don't apologize, Nobuko-san," he said, interrupting her. Hitsugaya looked out the window at the moon, which had begun to rise over the city. "I was dreaming, about someone I used to know…I couldn't remember her name."

"A friend?" she asked.

"I'm not sure," he said, turning back to look at Nobuko and frowning.

"What do you remember about her?" asked Nobuko.

"She was about your age," he said, unsure as to why he was even telling her this. "Tall, dark haired, brown-eyes. Her laugh was..." He broke off, suddenly embarrassed again.

"It's hard to lose someone you care about," said Nobuko, smiling kindly at him.

Her words struck Hitsugaya surprisingly hard. He felt more than just uncomfortable; he felt lost, vulnerable. He had not planned on sharing anything personal with her, let alone what he perceived to be his weakness, his vulnerability. He stood up abruptly, bowing to her and walking over to the door. "Please forgive me, Nobuko-san. You have been very kind to me."

"Please don't leave yet, Hitsugaya-sama. I've made some dessert and tea," said Nobuko, standing up and walking over to him.

"I'm very sorry, Nobuko-san, but I really must be going," he replied.

"Do you have a place to sleep tonight?" she asked him, concerned. "I know you just arrived…"

"I have a place to sleep, Nobuko-san," he lied quickly. "But thank you, I do appreciate your concern." She looked at him, as if she were going to say something else on the subject, but apparently thought better of it.

"You will stop by the shop tomorrow?" she asked. He nodded and waited for her as she walked over to the kitchen and hastily wrote the address for him on a scrap of paper.

"Thank you again," he said stiffly, as he walked out the door.

"Take care of yourself, Hitsugaya-sama," she said, waving at him from the landing as he descended the steps.

Once outside, Hitsugaya leaned against the building and closed his eyes. He hated not remembering; there was so much he didn't understand. What secrets did his lost memories hold? The thought both intrigued and frightened him.

He opened his eyes and began to walk, following the street as far as it would take him to the edge of the city. He needed to find a place to sleep, somewhere safe. Again, instinct told him to find shelter in a place with plenty of space in case he needed to defend himself._ "They are still out there, watching you,"_ he thought.

The smaller apartment buildings gave way to larger, commercial warehouses and lofts. It was quiet here; the workers had long since left for the day, and the light from the moon created eerie shadows in the windows of the buildings. He turned a corner onto a small street, lit by a lone lamppost. There, he saw an old warehouse which appeared to be abandoned. Most of the windows of the building were broken or cracked, but the tin roof appeared mostly intact. Inside, there were no walls to divide the large space, and he sat down, his back leaning against an old wooden storage crate. Through the nearest window, he could see the moon beginning to set over the foothills of the mountains.

_"This will do,"_ he thought, as he laid his head down on the concrete floor. The hard floor was cool, but it did not bother him. The cold felt familiar and strangely comforting to him. He closed his eyes and dreamed of dragons.


	7. The Notebook

Chapter Seven: The Notebook

_"Hyorinmaru?" She looked with surprise at the ice dragon standing before her. _

_"He is lost," said the dragon._

_"Where is he?" she asked._

_"You must guide him," said the dragon, ignoring her question. He eyed her warily, his turquoise eyes looking straight through to her soul._

_"Guide him? How?" She did not understand._

_"You must help him reclaim his power," The dragon snorted, and ice crystals formed about his face and hung in the air like tiny stars._

****************************

Karin opened her eyes. She was sitting on the train; houses and trees flew by the window. _"That was no dream,"_ she thought, her heart pounding.

_"No,"_ replied Masumi. _"The dragon wanders. Near here."_

_"In the Real World?" _she asked.

_"I found you here, in the Real World,"_ answered Masumi. _"Why should it be different for the dragon? There are no boundaries for the spirit seeking its master."_

_"But, how can his zanpakuto spirit speak to me?"_ asked Karin, confused.

_"It is not unheard of, although it is unusual,"_ replied Masumi. "_Perhaps Hyorinmaru can communicate with you because of your empathetic abilities. Or, perhaps you are able to hear the Dragon because of the connection you created with Hitsugaya in Hueco Mundo, when you entered into his mind and led him out of his prison of memories."_

_"What does the dragon want from me?"_ she asked.

_"I do not know,"_ said Masumi.

Karin stared out the window at the mountains that grew ever closer. The answer was there, somewhere in the mountains; she was sure of it. Perhaps Hitsugaya knew it as well, and that was why he also had been drawn to Hokkaido.

Stepping off the train into the bright afternoon sunshine an hour later, Karin felt rested; the gently rocking motion of the train had soothed her overly active mind. Still, looking out over the large city, the enormity of the task before her overwhelmed her. _"How will I find him here?"_ she wondered, as she walked out onto the small square in front of Sapporo Station. _"There are so many people, so many places he could be."_ She sat down on a small bench and closed her eyes, reaching inside her soul for answers.

_"There are other ways to find souls than searching for Reiatsu,"_ came a voice deep within. An image of a small bird, sitting upon a perch in a cage, crept into her mind – a memory from her childhood of a lost soul, seeking release. It had been just a simple soul, and yet she had felt its pain, its fear. She had felt the soul of the small boy, trapped inside the bird. The feelings the soul had invoked in her had been so powerful, she had become physically ill. Hitsugaya was no different than the small boy; his soul still existed, although it no longer had the powerful Reiatsu of a shinigami.

_"Even without his spirit power, his soul is like that child's," _said Karin silently to her zanpakuto spirit as realization dawned. _"It will be difficult to locate him, but it will not be impossible."_

Karin closed her eyes in concentration, listening to the sounds of the square grow quieter until she heard no sound at all. Then, slowly, she began to hear them – the sounds of souls all around her, tethered to life by memories, hope and pain. She focused on those souls who were no longer connected to the world of the living, whose soul chains had been shattered by death.

_"I can only sense the souls closest to me,"_ she thought, with some frustration._ "I will not find him sitting still."_ Karin stood up and walked over to a small hotel located at the far corner of the square. There, she paid for a room and shed her body, as always, happy to be back in her shinigami form. A short time later, she was floating above the city, zanpakuto at her side.

_"Focus on what you remember of his soul,"_ said Masumi. _"Recall the feelings it aroused in you, the texture and the shape of it."_

_"The texture and shape of it?"_ wondered Karin. She had never considered that souls could be described in such a material way. And yet, when she thought more about it, she realized that Hitsugaya's soul did have qualities she could describe physically. _"Even without his Reiatsu, his soul is dense, full of expression and thought. The edges of his soul are jagged, like ice crystals when they form."_

_"Let me guide you,"_ Masumi said. Karin drew her sword and held it at right angles to the ground, blade pointing straight up above her head. As she did so, the mirrored blade glowed orange, and she felt a comfortable warmth travel up her arms and through her body. A slight orange shimmer surrounded her, and her eyes glittered reddish-orange.

_"Concentrate on the qualities of the souls you see,"_ Masumi instructed. _"You will know his soul when you touch it."_

Below her, Karin could now see the outlines of souls taking shape. These souls were easily distinguishable from the living souls by a whitish-blue aura which emanated from their faces. Although she could not see their features from this distance, each soul had a distinct shape and feel to it. In this way, she was able to search larger areas of the city without worrying that she might overlook Hitsugaya's soul.

The city was nearly dark when Karin finally found him, walking down a narrow street on the outskirts of town towards an empty warehouse. She could sense it was Hitsugaya long before she could see his face. It had started to rain, and she used her Reiatsu to shield herself from the heavy droplets.

She remembered the first time she had seen Hitsugaya in the Soul Society. He had been perfectly dry despite the driving rain, although she had been soaked to the core. He had not remembered her from the Real World, and she had lied about who she was.

"Do I know you?" he had had asked, looking at her, soaking wet in her red and white academy uniform. There had been no hint of recognition in his face.

"No," she had lied, not wanting anything to do with the famous Kurosaki's. Wanting to be just another Academy recruit for a change. "I'm Suzuki Hina." It had been the first name she had thought of.

"Have you obtained permission to leave campus?"

Karin had shaken her head.

"Suzuki, you're violating Academy rules," he said. "Return now, and I won't report you."

"I'm so sorry, Captain, ah…."

"Hitsugaya," he had supplied.

"Right, Captain Hitsugaya, sir," she had said demurely, doing her best impression of the simpering Hina. "I thought I'd just look around right outside the Academy and, um, well, I guess I got a little lost." As she spoke, she had pulled the ribbon out of her hair, letting her hair fall, wet, onto her shoulders. "Do you think you might be able to show me the way back to the Academy?"

It felt as though an eternity had passed since that meeting, although in reality it had only been a few years. He, of course, had quickly realized that she had been lying about who she was, even before Ichigo had formally introduced them. Back then, his soul had been troubled with memories of his childhood and he had been afraid to confront the pain those memories still held for him in death. She had helped him to accept the memories and move past his pain.

Now, she sensed no such turmoil in him, although he was clearly troubled, lost. She remembered Hyorinmaru's words, 'You must help him reclaim his power.' She still had no better understanding of what the dragon had meant.

Karin knew that Hitsugaya could not see her in her shinigami form, so she continued to watch him from the top of a lamppost. From that distance, he looked much the same as she knew him – confident and in control. From time to time, though, she noticed him glancing over his shoulder, as if he were being followed. Karin looked around as well, but saw no one else on the street and felt no Reiatsu other than her own. Reaching a doorway, Hitsugaya looked around one more time, then quickly entered, closing the door behind him.

Karin followed from above, alighting on a skylight in the middle of the roof of the building. From there, she could see the entire warehouse below, and the solitary figure of the man with silver hair. Hitsugaya sat down on what appeared to be an old wooden crate, pulled a small bag from his pocket, and started to eat. There was little in the bag, and he finished his meager dinner in minutes.

By now, it was completely dark outside, and Karin stepped into the warehouse though an open window on the roof. Once inside, she dropped down to the floor below, landing soundlessly within feet of Histugaya. For a split second, she wondered if he had heard her, because he stood up and looked around and appeared to listen intently to the sound of the rain. But then, just as quickly, he sat back down again, pulling a small notebook and pen out of his jeans pocket, as well as a small flashlight, which he turned on and placed under his chin, its light shining on the paper.

Karin sat down on the floor several feet away from where Hitsugaya sat. It was torture, seeing him and knowing he could not see her. She watched him as he wrote at length in the notebook. From time to time, he would stop and close his eyes, as if trying to remember something. Then he would begin to write again, quickly and with purpose. After about a half hour, he closed the notebook and stood up, placing it on the wooden crate. Then he lay down on the cold concrete floor and closed his eyes.

Karin watched Hitsugaya sleep for nearly an hour, then walked silently over to him and sat down next to him. Instinctively, she reached out and touched his face. Slowly, she ran her hand gently through his hair as she had done countless times before. It was sweet agony, touching him, but knowing that he could not see or feel her. She remembered:

_"You are a woman of many gifts, Karin," he said._

_"Thank you, Toushirou," she said, standing up to face him. This time, he smiled warmly back at her and kissed her, leaving her dumbfounded._

_"Oh, and, by the way, it's Hitsugaya-taicho, Kurosaki."_

When she could bear it no longer, she got up to leave. As she turned to head in the direction of the door, she noticed the small notebook in which Hitsugaya had been writing earlier. She picked it up and opened it, curious. It was a journal, filled with drawings and notes, all in Hitsugaya's neat script. There were observations about Sapporo and its surrounding towns, including train schedules and small maps of the area: the written embodiment of Hitsugaya's struggle to reclaim his life. As she turned one of the pages, Karin was stunned to see several small drawings of a dragon with great wings of ice.

"Hyorinmaru," she said, startled to see the drawing of the zanpakuto spirit. She wondered how much Hitsugaya remembered of his life as a shinigami and whether the dragon spirit had been speaking to Hitsugaya, as well. With renewed curiosity and hope, she continued to read the pages that followed.

There were pages of detailed memories which appeared to be those of a young child. Walks in the park with his mother, playing games with his father. A trip to Sapporo to visit the clock tower. And, Karin noted with sadness, the memory of a train station filled with people, and of being separated from his mother. At the top of the page detailing these memories was the question, "Why can't I remember more?"

On several of the pages, she found references to Karakura and Hitsugaya's confusion as to why he had a sense memory of the place, but could not remember ever having been there. There were descriptions of dreams: of the ice dragon; of a woman with long, dark hair; and of a train station with soaring mountains in the distance. There were also vague references to 'something misplaced or lost' that Hitsugaya had searched for without success, and a clinic where he had recuperated from an illness. Throughout the notebook were scattered references to Hitsugaya's belief that he was being watched, followed.

As she neared the end of the notebook, however, she realized with sorrow that it was unlikely Hitsugaya remembered anything of his life as a shinigami except in these vague dreams. There were no references to the Soul Society or anything else in that world – their world. All the drawings of Hyorinmaru referred to the "Dragon of the Mountain," a mythical beast that lived in the mountains outside Sapporo which Hitsugaya had heard about during his stay in the city. Hitsugaya believed he had been dreaming about the dragon, and had not realized that the spirit was trying to communicate with him. Hitsugaya was planning to travel to the mountains in search of answers. There was no mention of a zanpakuto.

Karin reached the last completed page of the notebook. What she saw there made her heart skip a beat: a full page sketch of a woman with long dark hair. She immediately recognized herself in the drawing. Underneath the drawing were four simple words, "She is the key."


	8. The Quest

Chapter Eight: The Quest

The next morning, Karin left the hotel before sunrise and headed over to the warehouse where she had found Hitsugaya. It was still quite cold outside, and Karin, back in her body, shivered slightly. Because she was unsure when he might leave, she carried a pack filled with food and a change of clothes on her back.

Shortly after sunrise, Hitsugaya emerged from the building, glancing around several times before heading out into the street. Karin stood nearly a block away from the building, behind an old truck parked on the street. Even at that distance, she could see Hitsugaya's features more clearly than the night before. As he had the night before, Hitsugaya looked tired, on edge. As he walked by where she hid, Karin saw dark circles under his eyes, and a familiar look – the same look he used to wear when she had first met him, years ago. He was clearly troubled.

Karin had decided that she would not immediately reveal herself to Hitsugaya, having spoken with Ichigo and Rukia by phone the night before. Ichigo, in particular, was worried that Hitsugaya might run if he perceived Karin to be a threat. Instead, they agreed that Karin would observe Hitsugaya and gather any information that would give her an idea of how best to approach him.

A light mist hung in the air as the sun broke through the clouds. The city began to stir to life as Karin followed Hitsugaya to a small store near the train station which sold newspapers and magazines. Even at this early hour, the store was open, catering to the commuters who had already begun to pour in from the suburbs for work. Hitsugaya walked in the front door, waived to the young woman behind the counter, and disappeared out the back of the shop.

"_He works at the shop?" _she thought, with surprise. The idea of Hitsugaya working at a store in the Real World was jarring, but it made sense to Karin – a gigai needed food to function properly, and food was not free_._

The morning passed slowly as Karin watched Hitsugaya walk in and out of the shop with large bales of newspapers, tied with string. Karin followed him around the city, as he delivered the newspapers to small hotels and restaurants. After lunch, Hitsugaya and a second man unloaded boxes from a small truck.

"I'll be back in about an hour, Nobuko-san," Karin heard Hitsugaya say to the store clerk, who was watching from the doorway.

Hitsugaya hopped onto the truck. When the truck pulled away down the street, Karin did not follow. She was learning nothing from following Hitsugaya. Instead, she waited a few minutes and then walked into the shop.

"Good afternoon," said Nobuko, from behind the counter. Karin returned the greeting, bowing slightly. Karin walked over to a rack of magazines and began to look through them. After a few minutes, Karin picked up a copy of "Soccer Japan" and walked up to the counter. As she paid Nobuko for the magazine, Karin said, "I'm sorry to bother you, Miss. I'm looking for a friend. Hitsugaya Toushirou. Do you know him?"

The young woman shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I don't know him," she replied.

"_That's strange,"_ thought Karin, surprised at the clerk's response. _"Maybe he is using another name." _Karin was about to ask the clerk if she knew anyone who matched Hitsugaya's description, when she felt Hitsugaya's presence nearby. _"He's coming back earlier than expected. I need to leave,"_ thought Karin, taking the change from the clerk.

"Thank you anyhow," said Karin, quickly. The young woman smiled at her again. Karin headed out of the shop and onto the street just as the truck rounded the corner. Karin quickly withdrew into the entryway of an apartment building so that she would not be seen.

The truck pulled down the small alleyway next to the shop again, and Hitsugaya jumped off. From the street, Karin could see him, unloading more boxes from the back of the truck. She watched him unload boxes and then stock shelves in the shop until it was nearly dark. The street lights had just come on when Hitsugaya finally left the shop and headed back to the warehouse where he made his home, stopping by a bakery on the way and buying a small loaf of bread.

Karin took up her watch outside the warehouse as darkness fell. Pulling an apple out of her backpack, she sat and watched as Hitsugaya ate his meager dinner. Then, as he had done the night before, he pulled out the small notebook and began to write in it. Finally, as the stars began to appear between the lingering rain clouds, Hitsugaya lay down on the concrete floor again and went to sleep.

Karin sat down on a concrete wall outside the warehouse. Hours went by, and she stifled a yawn. Despite the rain, which had made an unwelcome reappearance, Karin had decided not to go back to the hotel, fearful that Hitsugaya might leave at any time. It was early in the morning when she finally fell asleep, convinced that it was safe to close her eyes, at least for a short time.

Karin awoke with a start to the sensation of a strong spiritual presence nearby - the unmistakable reiatsu of a shinigami. It was not a reiatsu she had ever felt before. Her heart pounding, she jumped down from the wall and rummaged through her pocket, pulling out a small pillbox and quickly swallowing the tiny pink candy inside.

"Get out of here," she ordered the modified soul that now inhabited her body. "Don't let anyone see you."

Karin drew her zanpakuto and, with a shunpo step, stood just yards away from the unknown shinigami. The shinigami, a man, judging by his height and build, wore a cloak which obscured his face, just like the attackers had worn in Karakura.

"What do you want?" demanded Karin, aiming her weapon at the shinigami. He did not reply, but instead drew his weapon and quickly fired a blast of flame in her direction. It was not a warning shot; he had aimed to kill.

Karin shouted, "Hado Seventy-three, Tozansho!" A glowing, pyramid-shaped barrier appeared around her, deflecting the attack.

The shinigami released his zanpakuto, sending flames into the air as it transformed into what appeared to be a long wooden staff. He twirled the staff in his hands, and fire again erupted from the weapon, this time in a wide arc which flew towards Karin with lightening speed. The attack hit the Kido barrier and the flames disappeared. There was a loud cracking sound, and the barrier shattered around Karin.

"Hado thirty-three, Soukatsui!" yelled Karin, and a large burst of red energy flew at the shinigami, knocking him back several feet. The Kido spell caused no real damage, but left a foot-deep hole in the street and sent debris flying about them.

"_If we fight here," _thought Karin, _"Hitsugaya may get hurt. I need to draw him away."_ She soared up into the air and over the buildings – high enough, she hoped, to avoid any more damage to warehouse below. Her attacker, as expected, quickly followed her, aiming yet another attack in her direction as he moved. Karin easily dodged the attack and maneuvered behind the cloaked man.

"Soar, Masumi," said Karin, releasing her Shikai. Masumi's hilt glowed red and its blade shone like a brilliant mirror, reflecting the sunlight and momentarily blinding her opponent. She swung the sword back over her shoulder and then forward again, sending a stream of red particles flying towards the renegade shinigami like a very long whip. He raised his zanpakuto in response, spinning the weapon around again and effectively slicing the particles into tiny bits which glowed red and then disappeared into the atmosphere.

Karin's attacker rotated his zanpakuto until it was parallel to the ground. Small flames glowed white hot along the top edge of the weapon. The flames grew taller and hotter as Karin watched. Anticipating his attack, Karin closed her eyes and stood perfectly still. Reddish wind began to swirl around her feet, becoming stronger and stronger. Her hair whipped around her face, but she did not move. The wind bands of energy that swirled around her took on a deeper hue and began to solidify, becoming translucent.

The shinigami swung his zanpakuto from its end, and an enormous fireball flew towards where Karin stood. Closer and closer the fireball flew to Karin, and still she stood her ground. When the attack was just feet away from her, Karin opened her eyes and held out her left arm, palm towards the attack. The flames collided with the ribbons of energy and, as they did, the ribbons glowed brighter and redder. Karin could feel the heat of the shinigami's attack against her skin, but it did not burn her.

The bands of energy continued to swirl around her body, gathering strength from her opponent's attack. _"Now!"_ thought Karin, focusing her reiatsu on the zanpakuto. The orange and red ribbons flew towards her attacker. Several of these strands of light began to wind their way around the shinigami's wrists, and he struggled to break free of them. Karin flicked her right wrist, sending the shinigami soaring backwards, and sending his weapon flying through the air. Karin caught the staff in her left hand. Momentarily stunned at the loss of his zanpakuto, the renegade shinigami stood still, apparently weighing his options.

"Who are you?" demanded Karin, moving closer to the stunned shinigami and pointing her weapon at his chest. And still the shinigami said nothing. "Why are you here? Tell me!"

The shinigami laughed and looked down below where they stood, suspended over the city. Karin could see Hitsugaya through the skylights, still sleeping on the floor of the warehouse. Taking advantage of her momentary distraction, the shinigami quickly began to retreat.

"_I can't let him go," _thought Karin. _"I need to find out why he's here."_

"No!" Karin yelled. She let go of her attacker's zanpakuto, grabbed Masumi's hilt with both hands and aimed the weapon at the fighter who was now fleeing. An enormous white light, tinged with red and orange flame burst from the end of her sword towards the nameless fighter. The light from the attack made contact with a building several blocks away, missing Karin's attacker. With a shunpo step, he was gone. She would not follow; she would not leave Hitsugaya alone.

*******************************

Hitsugaya awoke suddenly to the sound of rain pounding on the metal roof. He had heard something. No, he had _sensed_ something. He could not explain it, but the feeling left him anxious, edgy. He listened carefully, but he could not hear anything but the rain.

"_They're coming," _he thought, gathering his few belongings in a small drawstring bag. _"Time to move."_ He crept out the back of the building, looking around to see if he was being followed. They were still out there, watching him from a distance. _"If they'd wanted to kill me, I'd be dead already," _he thought. He headed back onto the road, where he felt more at ease.

*******************************

In her body again, the constant rain and the cold air made her bones ache, and the heavy sweater she wore did little to stop the wind from reaching her skin. Karin saw Hitsugaya stand up and look around.

"_He must have somehow sensed the fight,"_ she thought, encouraged at the possibility that Hitsugaya's powers might not be irretrievably lost. She knew it was no coincidence that the shinigami had been here, although she was still unsure if she or Hitsugaya had been the attacker's ultimate target. More than ever, she knew she needed to bring him back to Karakura, where he'd be safe and where her father might be able to restore his powers and his memory.

Hitsugaya, as expected, left through the back of the building. Karin was ready. Determined to reveal herself to him this time, but unsure of how best to do it, Karin followed him. If he was aware of her being there, he did not show it.

He walked several miles down the road which led out of the city towards the mountains beyond. The rain continued to fall steadily, and Karin forced herself to ignore the persistent cold. After some time, Hitsugaya stopped at a small stream and washed his face in the water. Karin watched him from behind a stand of pine trees.

"I know you're there," he said, a few moments later as he turned around to look at the place where she hid.

Karin's heart pounded in her chest as she walked out into the clearing._ "What am I afraid of?" _she asked herself. The answer came unbidden: she was afraid that she no longer knew the man standing in front of her. She took a deep breath and stepped out from behind the trees, smiling at him.

"Who are you?" he asked. "Why are you following me?"

"I'm Kurosaki Karin," she said. "I've been looking for you, Toushirou."

Hitsugaya stared into the face of the woman from his dreams. He had not expected her to find him. He did not let down his guard; there were too many unanswered questions. He remembered the dreams, the voice of the old man saying, _'_She cannot be trusted.' _"You know nothing about her,_" he told himself.

"How do you know me?" he asked, his face controlled, mask-like.

Karin hesitated. She had not given any real thought as to how she might answer this question, instead focusing on finding him, knowing he was safe. Now, convinced that he remembered little or nothing about her or his life as a shinigami, Karin was unsure of how to respond.

"I…," she said, "I mean, _we_, are friends." _"And much more than that,"_ she thought, painfully.

"Why don't I remember?" he asked, still suspicious.

"You were injured," she answered.

"Injured? How?"

"In battle," said Karin. She was teetering close to the edge of what she was willing to reveal, convinced that he would never believe her if she told him the truth, that he was a shinigami, a soul reaper. She was not willing to risk the truth yet, he was clearly agitated, suspicious.

"Battle?" he mused. The concept made sense to him, given his instinctive ability to defend himself, his fast reflexes and lack of fear of confrontation. "I'm a soldier?"

"Yes," replied Karin. "My captain." He noted the fierce pride in her voice.

"Captain? I'm no captain," he said, dismissively. The idea was foreign to him, unsettling. Then, composing himself, he said, "What army? I know of no conflict here."

"I'm sorry," she said, and she looked genuinely uncomfortable, "but I can't tell you that yet. Please believe me, I truly want to help you, Toushirou."

He looked at her for a moment, then looked around quickly. It was not safe to remain here; there were still others, waiting and watching. He considered her briefly, weighing the risk she posed to him against his need for answers. Then, deciding that a woman, even a trained soldier, presented little threat to someone with his fighting skills, he said,

"Walk with me, Kurosaki."

The power in his voice reminded Karin of the captain, in command and in control. She picked her backpack up off the ground, and they started off down the road together.

"Where are we going?" asked Karin as they walked.

"To the mountains," he replied.

"The mountains?" she asked, surprised.

He hesitated for a moment, considering how much of his plans to reveal to her. He decided on just enough to see what she knew, but not enough to leave himself vulnerable. "There's a legend associated with these mountains," he said, after a minute. "I heard it when I was a boy. The locals still speak of it."

Karin looked at him, curious now. "I don't know Hokkaido well," she said. "What is the legend?"

"The local people believe these mountains are inhabited by the spirit of an Ice Dragon," he answered.

"_Hyorinmaru," _thought Karin, struggling to keep her face from betraying her shock. "I'm sure there are many legends surrounding these mountains," she said, dismissively.

"That's true," replied Hitsugaya. "But I believe this particular legend is somehow connected to my lost memories."

"How so?" she asked.

"I've dreamed about a dragon with turquoise eyes and wings made of ice." Again, Karin struggled not to reveal her surprise at his revelation.

"There are two things that I dream of," he said, watching her carefully for her reaction. "The other is you."

This time, Karin's reaction was immediate; she stopped walking and turned her face away from him so he wouldn't see the flush in her cheeks. Hitsugaya watched her with curiosity; he had not expected this particular reaction. He put his hand on her shoulder, turning her back towards him so he could see her face. Karin stopped breathing for a moment as their eyes met. For a brief instant, he saw pain and longing in her eyes.

"I was more than just your captain, wasn't I?" he said, his hand still resting lightly on her shoulder. She felt dizzy, confused. How had he known? Her cheeks felt hot.

"_Dammit,"_ she thought, irritated with her body's betrayal, _"You're a grown woman, a soldier. Get it together, Karin!"_

"That doesn't matter now," she said, stepping away from him. She took a deep breath. The pain began to subside and she started to breathe again.

"I am sorry," he said, frowning slightly. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"I'm fine," she said, her mouth tightening as regained control of her emotions.

They walked on in awkward silence. Through the low-lying clouds, Sapporo was still visible in the distance. The rain, which had fallen steadily all morning, began to turn to light snow as they ascended the foothills. The snow became heavier the farther they climbed, and temperature continued to drop. Karin shivered as the wind blew against her skin. They passed a rocky outcropping on the side of the trail and Hitsugaya stopped, walking over to the rocks and putting out his hands. He could feel a slight breeze through several bushes which grew out of the rocks.

"There's a small cave here," he said, turning to Karin, who was watching him with growing curiosity. "It's time for us to stop." Hitsugaya pulled away some of the growth that covered the rocks to reveal an opening, just large enough for them to squeeze through.

"How did you know the cave was here?" asked Karin with surprise.

"I'm not sure," replied Hitsugaya, squeezing through the rocks and motioning her to follow. "Instinct, I guess." He reached into his small drawstring bag and withdrew a flashlight. He pointed it around the small cave. In places, water dripped through the rock, and there were small puddles on the cave floor. Finding a dry spot, Hitsugaya sat down. Karin sat down next to him, drawing her knees up to her chest and shivering again.

"You need to take that wet sweater off before you freeze," he said, taking off his jacket and handing it to her unceremoniously. She nodded, and pulled the soaked sweater over her head, revealing nothing but a thin tank top underneath. She put the jacket on, still shivering, clutching her legs against her chest again. Her teeth chattered.

"You will lose consciousness if you don't warm up quickly," he said, moving closer to her. "May I?" he asked, reaching his arms out. Too cold to speak, Karin nodded.

He put his arms around her and pulled her close to his body. She could feel the warmth that radiated from him. _"He always liked the cold,"_ she thought, closing her eyes. Slowly, her teeth stopped chattering. It was then that she noticed the sound of his breath in her ear. She shivered again. This time, however, it had nothing to do with the cold. She tried hard to relax, to force her body to forget he was so close to her.

"Karin," he said. "It's good to finally know your name." It was the first time he had called her by her given name since she had revealed herself to him. She said nothing, afraid that anything she might say would divulge more than she should.

"We were lovers, weren't we?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered after a moment, her voice almost a whisper.

"I'm sorry, Karin," he said, "I don't remember much, just bits and pieces of you, of us." She shivered again, in spite of herself. He breathed deeply, inhaling the scent of her, his lips brushing her neck by accident. She sighed softly. He touched her damp hair, pulling it gently away from her face. He did not understand why he was so drawn to her, why his hunger for her was so powerful. _"We were much more than just lovers, Karin,"_ he thought.

He turned her body so that he could see her face. He reached up and instinctively touched her cheek. Then, as if he had done it a thousand times before, he brought her face close to his and kissed her lips. "I remember this," he said, kissing her again.

Karin had never felt such duality of emotions and feeling. The pain in her soul at the loss of the man she had known blurred with the passion the same man now aroused in her. She was confused and overwhelmed. She put her hands to his face instinctively, trying to see what was inside his soul.

"_Why are you here?" asked the dragon, eyeing her warily with piercing turquoise eyes._

"_I want to help him," she replied. "What can I do?"_

"_You can help him, but he must be the one to reclaim his rightful place."_

Hitsugaya grabbed her hands and pulled them away from his face, staring at her. "What did you just do?" he demanded, angrily.

"I'm sorry, Toushirou, I didn't mean…"

"What haven't you told me, Karin?" he asked, his face now cold. "Who are you, really?"

* * *

**A/N: Longer time coming than usual, but I hope you all enjoyed this long chapter! Please be sure to let me know what you think of the direction the story is taking - reviews and PM's are welcome and appreciated! I promise to always respond to both. -Lex**

**Next time - Chapter Nine: Warming Trend. **


	9. Warming Trend

Chapter Nine: Warming Trend

Karin stood up quickly, nearly hitting her head on a piece of rock that jutted down from the ceiling of the small cave.

"I've told you who I am, Toushirou," she said, getting a hold of herself. "I have been honest with you."

"You haven't told me the entire truth," he said, still angry with her.

"No," she said. "I haven't told you the entire truth. I can't…not now. Please, Toushirou, you must trust me. I haven't lied to you."

"Why should I trust you?" he said, his anger abating. "I have a memory, Kurosaki. An old man, telling me that you had assisted the enemy, that you could not be trusted."

Karin felt suddenly cold again._ "Yamamoto,"_ she thought, the old guilt returning._ "He punished me, and rightly so. I helped the Arrancar…"_ What explanation would suffice to explain away her mistake - a mistake which had cost the Soul Society? She could find none.

"_You believed you were helping to ease their pain, Karin,"_ said Masumi. _"You helped to secure the Soul Society in the end."_

"_Only after I caused so much damage,"_ she replied.

"The memory is real, then," said Hitsugaya, seeing the pained look on her face.

Karin looked back at him with a mixture of regret and defiance. "I made a mistake. I cannot undo that."

A wave of tiredness swept over her, and she felt a presence, dark and powerful, nearby. It was a presence she had felt before, in Karakura, before Hitsugaya had been injured. She looked up at Hitsugaya, fear in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked, noticing the change in her expression.

"I'm not sure…" she said, her voice trailing off. "I feel something; something evil, threatening." And then, just as suddenly, the dark presence she had felt was gone, replaced by something else: unfamiliar reiatsus, nearby. Moving closer._ "I let my guard down," _she thought, angry with herself, _"they've sensed my reiatsu."_

"We have company," she said, instead. "Two of them. Several hundred yards from here."

For a moment, Hitsugaya appeared to be listening for something, and then he said, "I feel them, too. They've been following me ever since I left Karakura." He pulled a small knife out of his belt.

"_He can sense them?" _wondered Karin. There was little time to consider the possibilities; they were vulnerable here.

"Toushirou," she said, her voice commanding, "you must trust me. I can fight these two, but you must let me go alone."

"I'm perfectly capable of…"

"No. This is beyond your current abilities, Hitsugaya-taicho" she said sharply. The title appeared to have its intended effect, because he replaced the knife and looked at her. "These are not normal men," said Karin, evenly. "I can't tell you more now."

"_You will have to tell him soon," _she thought to herself. _"You owe him that."_

She turned around and rummaged through her backpack, pulling out a small pillbox and shoving it into her back pants pocket. She could feel them getting closer. There was no time left; she had to hope that he would not follow her.

Outside the cave, it was still snowing, although not as heavily as before. Several inches of snow now blanketed the mountainside. The temperature had dropped precipitously, however, and the cold air stung Karin's face as she slipped out of the opening in the rocks.

"Where are they?" asked Hitsugaya, from behind her.

"Please," she said, sensing the two reiatsus coming closer. "Wait for me inside. You'll be safer there."

"I'm not going anywhere," he said, stubbornly.

Karin reached into her pocket and, behind her back, slipped the pill containing the modified soul out of the pillbox and into her hand.

"What are you doing?" demanded Hitsugaya, watching Karin suspiciously.

"Nothing," she replied, surreptitiously popping the pill into her mouth. Hitsugaya reached for her arm, but it was too late, Karin had already stepped out of her body.

"Bakudo number 1, Sai!" she shouted. Hitsugaya's arms were immediately pinned behind his back as if bound there by invisible ropes. Karin punched him, hard, on the chin and he fell into the snow where he had stood.

"_Forgive me, Toushirou,"_ she thought. _"You're not ready to fight them yet."_

"Take him into the cave," she ordered the modified soul. Her doppelganger picked Hitsugaya up and carried him back inside, and then returned a moment later for more instructions. There was a loud crash, as the ground in front of their feet exploded into bits of dirt and snow. Karin's body was thrown away from the cave and rolled several feet before resting, face down, in a snow drift. The small candy-shaped pill lay in the snow, having been expelled from her body at the moment of impact.

"Damn," she said, pulling her zanpakuto from her waist and aiming it in the direction of the attack. There was no time to attempt to retrieve her body, as another attack flew at her from her left. She was thankful Hitsugaya was safe in the cave. _"But for how long?"_ she wondered.

Karin saw a blur of movement in front of her and turned just in time to raise her weapon. There was a loud clanking of metal against metal as the two zanpakutos met each other. In front of her, Karin could just glimpse the eyes of her attacker, nearly hidden beneath the hood of his cloak.

"What do you want?" Karin demanded. As expected, there was no answer, save a strong shove against her arm which pushed them apart and separated their blades.

The unknown shinigami aimed his zanpakuto directly at Karin. Gold energy flew from the side of the blade in an arc towards where Karin stood. Anticipating the attack, Karin used shunpo to move some ten yards away from her attacker. Snow flew around her feet, as she skidded to a stop.

"Soar, Mas……" Karin had raised her blade over her head to release her shikai, but, as she did so, she felt a sharp pain in her thigh. The second attacker, who had up until that moment, remained hidden behind the trees, had aimed an attack at her.

"Shit," swore Karin, under her breath, as the pain intensified. _"I should have known better than to leave myself vulnerable."_

"_I will stop the pain, Karin,"_ said Masumi, from within. Within seconds, Karin felt the pain dissipate, and her thigh felt warm.

Thankful for both Masumi's help and that the wound had not been more serious, Karin moved quickly to release her shikai. This time, she shouted, "Hado Seventy-three, Tozansho!" A glowing, pyramid-shaped barrier appeared, temporarily shielding Karin from her attackers.

"Soar, Masumi!" The blade of Karin's zanpakuto sparkled and, from both sides, light spread around her and towards the shinigami who had just hit her in the leg. The light hit Karin's opponent with such force that it knocked him off his feet, and he flew backwards several yards and landed in the snow.

The second assailant now launched another attack. This time, however, Karin was ready for it. She angled the blade of her zanpakuto and intercepted the strike, sending it back towards where the shinigami stood, between two large fir trees. The attack hit the ground in front of the trees, snow and dirt flying into the air. The resulting crater was at least two feet deep.

The first attacker had now gotten up, and fired off another volley. Karin recognized the attack this time - it was the same shinigami who had attacked her in Sapporo the day before. His fire zanpakuto was unmistakable. Karin dodged the attack, although the tailing edge of it caught the knee of her hakama pants, burning a hole through the fabric.

Karin flew up into the air over the trees to get a better look at her attackers' positions. Snow was still falling, so it was difficult to see. Still, she could feel them below. They were both quite strong, judging from what she had seen so far of their attacks, as well as their powerful reiatsus. Were these Maggot's Nest escapees, as Urahara believed? If so, a two-on-one fight was risky at her current level of Shikai release. She could not chance leaving Hitsugaya unprotected, given how little she knew of the enemy. The two shinigami rose to meet her in the air.

"_Time to end this fight,"_ Karin thought, with determination, as she moved to dodge another fire attack.

"Bankai," she said, as she floated above the mountainside. The light of a thousand suns grew from Masumi's blade. Orange and red light surrounded Karin and joined with the light from her blade. The hilt of Karin's zanpakuto was now the color of the sunset, and a simple gold chain hung from the end. The blade shimmered like light hitting water, no longer solid, but pure energy, which swirled around a core of light.

Karin raised Masumi straight up into the air and closed her eyes. In an instant, ribbons of white and gold light grew up from the ground around her, growing denser as they climbed up her body. The flame met the ribbons of light and vanished, leaving Karin untouched. Light shone from her hair and her skin, emanating from Karin herself.

The first attacker moved towards Karin using shunpo, his speed rivaling hers. His zanpakuto was pointed directly at Karin. Karin, too, ran towards the attacker, as Masumi glowed brighter. The two weapons collided mid way between the two fighters. There was a deafening roar as the two weapons met, and the area around them glowed an unearthly orange, red and gold. The trees below them swayed with the impact of the two blades. Karin's attacker fell to the ground, struck in the chest, and lay still.

"Tell me what you want from us, or you will be the next to fall," shouted Karin at the remaining attacker, who had watched his comrade fight. He said nothing, but fled into the distance, aiming his zanpakuto at her over his shoulder as he retreated. Karin easily side-stepped the attack, but when she looked back at the last location of the remaining fighter, he had fled. She followed for a short distance and saw him disappear into the side of a nearby mountain. Unwilling to leave Hitsugaya unguarded, however, she did not pursue him further.

Returning to the cave, Karin landed softly on the ground below her and walked back over to the second fighter. He would be no help in her search for answers. He was dead.

"_I need to make sure Toushirou is safe,"_ she thought, with some urgency. _"Then I can investigate."_

She headed back to where her body lay in the snow and stepped neatly back into it. She stood up, intending to enter the cave, but an overwhelming feeling of dizziness and cold hit her, and she struggled to stay on her feet. She could not stop shaking, and her limbs felt heavy and numb. She tried to walk towards the opening of the cave, but her legs would not move. She tried to grab onto a branch from the bushes nearby, but misjudged the distance and missed it. Her legs crumpled underneath her and she fell, headlong, into the snow, unconscious.

_She dreamed of high mountains and of the ice dragon._

"_What will you do now that you have found him?" asked the dragon, beating its wings. Snow and ice flew, and she felt as though she'd never be warm again._

_Then she saw eyes, red as blood, rising out of black fire and moving towards her. Darkness threatened to engulf her - pervasive darkness which threatened to overpower her very soul. She had never felt something as powerful and as evil. Instinctively, she backed away as quickly as she could, and still the darkness followed her._

"_Leave here!" she shouted at the encroaching darkness, reaching for her zanpakuto. There was no weapon at her waist, no means of defending herself. The darkness continued to advance._

_Suddenly she saw Hitsugaya standing next to her, white-hair blowing in the hot wind. Bits of black flame licked at his skin as he raised Hyorinmaru to the before him, his eyes half-closed as smoldering embers carried on the wind burned his face. _

_The darkness reached out and began to pull Hitsugaya away from where she stood. She ran after him, the fire searing her cheeks._

"_Masumi!" she screamed, "where are you?!"_

"_You cannot help him with this. He must choose. You can only show him the path," said the ice dragon from behind her, snow billowing from its nostrils. "Without me, he is nothing. He will die again."_

"_No!" she tried to yell, but her voice caught in her throat, and no sound escaped her lips. She could barely see Hitsugaya in the distance._

"_He must defeat the darkness before it destroys us both," said the dragon. "You must tell him the truth before it is too late."_

"Karin, wake up," came a voice, familiar and commanding.

"_The darkness is here, in the mountains," said the dragon, now flying above her towards the place where Hitsugaya had disappeared. "They are watching him, even now."_

"_Watching?_ _Who is watching?" said Karin, her heart racing with fear._

"_The Guardian is the key to controlling the darkness," replied the dragon, ignoring her question. "They will come for him, soon. They have been waiting."_

"_Waiting for what?"_

_The dragon was silent._

"_Please, tell me who they are!"_

"Karin! Wake up," said Hitsugaya. "You can't sleep. You'll die."

"_Please tell me who is watching," she said, pleading with the dragon. "What are they waiting for? What do they want with the Guardian?" She was desperate to understand._

"Karin," said Hitsugaya, this time shaking her. "You must wake up."

She struggled to open her eyes.

"_Only the Guardian can ask the questions," replied the dragon, impatiently. _

"Karin," Hitsugaya repeated, "You can't sleep."

This time, she opened her eyes, trying to see his face in the darkness. "Sleep?" she said, her voice a whisper.

"Stay with me, Karin. Look at me," he said. She felt his body, lying next to hers, the feel of his strong arms surrounding her.

His face slowly came into focus. "Toushirou," she said.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she replied weakly, looking up at him. "Just a little cold." Her hand strayed to his chin, where she had punched him. It was red, swollen.

"You have quite a strong right-hook," he said, smiling now.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't want to hit you. Please believe me, I don't want to hurt you. I was trying to keep you safe."

He looked at her, her face only inches away from his. _"She is telling the truth,"_ he thought, _"at least about this."_ He knew it instinctively. Still, the memory of the old man and her reaction to it stayed with him. _"I must be careful around her. I still don't know enough."_

"I believe you, Karin," he said, pulling her closer as she shivered violently. _"God," _he thought, _"she feels so good." _He was happy to have an excuse to hold her again.

"Your shirt," said Karin, as she felt his bare skin with her hands. "You must be freezing." As she said this, she realized that she was wearing the dry clothing from her backpack and, over her shirt, his shirt as well.

"You needed it more," he said. "I don't mind the cold."

"You never did," she said, smiling at him.

"What happened out there? I saw craters, rocks that looked like they had been blasted into the air. Did they get away?"

"One escaped," she said, somberly. "The other is dead."

"I didn't see a body…" he began.

"You couldn't see it, Toushirou." She struggled to sit up, and he helped her so that her back was leaning against the wall of the cave. She felt tired and dizzy - being so close to him was making her extremely uncomfortable.

"Why not?" he asked, watching her carefully now.

"You couldn't see it because the attackers were not human, Toushirou," she said. "They were shinigami. Like you."


	10. Cold Truth

Chapter Ten: Cold Truth

"A shinigami?" Hitsugaya looked at Karin in disbelief.

"You are not human, Toushirou," she said. "You're a shinigami. A soul reaper. Or, you were. You were injured, and you lost your powers."

After a few moments, he laughed softly, looking into her face, expecting to see her laugh back at him. She did not.

"I can see why you hesitated to tell me," he said, his expression now serious. "It isn't every day someone tells you that you're not human."

"No," she said, looking down. "But you were human, once. You were born and died near here. I think that's why you came back to this place."

"I'm dead?" he asked, uncomprehendingly.

"Yes," she said, simply. "You died when you were a boy."

"I don't believe you," he said, stubbornly. "I'm just a man, like any other."

"No," Karin replied. "You are far more than that." He stared at her, and Karin could see the distrust in his eyes. A thought came to her – a way to convince him that she spoke the truth.

"You don't remember anything of your life past the age of seven, do you?" she asked him.

"No, I don't," he answered, truthfully.

"You remember your life as a child, but only until the day you lost your mother in the train station," Karin said.

Hitsugaya looked shocked. "How do you know about that?" he asked her.

"It is a very powerful memory for you," she replied, hoping the answer would suffice.

"You haven't answered my question," he said, frowning.

"I…," she said, hesitating.

"I will not trust you if you withhold the truth," said Hitsugaya.

Karin took a deep breath, trying to form the words. "I…I _saw_ the memory in your mind," she said, at last.

"So that's what you were doing before, when you put your hands on my face. You were reading my mind?" he asked.

Karin blushed scarlet. "I didn't mean to," she said. "I was confused. I needed to know…"

"So you're not human, either?" he asked, interrupting her.

"I am human," she said, grateful that he had changed the subject. "But I am also a shinigami. I'm one of the few humans in the world we live in - the Soul Society." He raised an eyebrow.

"It's the place where souls go after death," Karin continued. "As shinigami, it is our responsibility to escort souls to the afterlife, and to protect the Real World, _this_ world, from dangerous spirits. The hollows."

"In the Soul Society, you were one of the strongest shinigami. Your zanpakuto is…was…the strongest ice zanpakuto known. It took the form of an ice dragon. The dragon calls you the 'Heavenly Guardian,' doesn't it?"

Hitsugaya nodded.

"The dragon's name is…" her voice trailed off, and she looked slightly confused for a moment. _"Why can't I remember its name?" she wondered._

"I don't remember its name either," said Hitsugaya, recalling his dream. Karin looked at him, surprised.

"All shinigami must learn the names of their zanpakutos, their spirit weapons, before they can truly control the weapon," she said, a glimmer of hope rising inside of her.

"So if I learn this dragon's name, my powers and my memory will return?" asked Hitsugaya. He wanted to believe her, but her story was so incredible, it defied belief. It was hard to keep the skepticism from his voice.

"I don't know," replied Karin. "There's much more going on here. The people who are following you, I think they are the ones who removed your powers."

"Why not just kill me?" he asked. "They've had plenty of opportunity."

"I'm not sure," replied Karin, honestly. "But I think it has something to do with your zanpakuto spirit - the ice dragon. The dragon told me that you were the key to controlling this dark presence I felt before. I felt the same presence when you were injured in battle."

_"Why make up a story like this?"_ he wondered, as he studied her face. She seemed to be telling the truth; there would have been many other stories she could have told him that would have been more believable. Still, he had seen no proof that he had unusual powers, and she had offered him none.

"We can't stay here," he said, anxious to hear more, but keenly aware that they were vulnerable. "They'll be back."

Karin stood up slowly, bracing herself against the wall. "I'll be fine," she said, waving off the hand he offered her. She picked up her pack and threw it over her shoulder.

"Have you always been so stubborn?" he asked, a hint of a smile on his lips.

"No more than you," she said, with a laugh. Their eyes met briefly, and Karin turned and walked out of the cave, suddenly feeling very warm despite the cold wind.

They emerged into bright sunlight. The trail was still covered in snow, but Hitsugaya had no trouble following it. As they reached the crest of the mountainside and began to descend, Karin saw a small city in the valley below.

"Otaru," said Hitsugaya.

"The place where the second attacker fled was towards the city," said Karin, pointing towards a mountain to the west.

"The legends describe a mountain overlooking Otaru as the dragon's lair," said Hitsugaya.

As they got closer to the city, the trail began to descend at a more rapid pace, with long stretches ending in tight hairpin turns down the front of the mountainside. Ahead, tree-covered hills were visible, and the snow which had covered the trail began to yield to the warmth of early Spring.

They walked for some time in silence as Hitsugaya pondered Karin's revelations with renewed skepticism. He had few memories, but he was an overwhelmingly practical person who had difficulty imagining the type of fantasy existence Karin had described back in the cave.

_"You'll have a better sense of whether she's telling the truth if you ask her more concrete questions, about things you know and understand,"_ he thought, as they walked.

"How did we meet?" asked Hitsugaya to a very startled Karin. She had clearly not anticipated this type of question from him.

She smiled for a moment, and then said, "I guess that depends."

He smiled to himself, enjoying the simple pleasure of just talking with her. "It depends on what?" he asked, his turquoise eyes twinkling.

"We actually met twice," she said. "The first time was when I was a child, in the Real World. This world."

"And later?"

"After college, I decided to enroll at the Shinigami Academy, I…" Karin's voice trailed off; she felt suddenly dizzy, tired. She stopped walking and leaned against a tree by the side of the trail.

_"It's back,"_ she thought, struggling to stay on her feet. _"The dark presence. It gets stronger the closer we get."_

"What's wrong?" asked Hitsugaya.

"I…" she began. He caught her as she stumbled, her legs suddenly weak. _"Damn,"_ she thought, _"what's happening to me?"_

With all her strength, she pulled herself up, leaning on Hitsugaya's shoulder for support. And then she felt them – two reiatsus. They were standing next to her: two cloaked shinigami, weapons drawn. It was as if they had appeared out of nowhere.

_"How did I miss them?" _Karin thought, with frustration.

"What do you want?" said Hitsugaya, looking at the place where the shinigami stood. He could see two shimmering outlines, almost human in their appearance. The swords they held in their hands were unmistakable – he could see them as clearly as his own hands.

_"He can see them?"_ thought Karin, with shock, as she reached for her backpack and the small pillbox inside.

"Don't move," said one of the cloaked shinigami, a man, who appeared to be watching her carefully. His companion said nothing, but nodded. Karin guessed she was a woman, by her size.

Karin put her arms down by her side. _"Masumi,"_ she thought, urgently.

_"You are still weak, Karin," _replied the zanpakuto spirit._ "The darkness is affecting you more than you realize."_

_"I have no choice,"_ Karin replied silently, _"I can do nothing in this form."_

_"I am ready, Karin,"_ her zanpakuto spirit replied. _"But your body will be vulnerable."_

_"It doesn't matter,"_ Karin said, dismissively. She knew that, without a modified soul, her body would be in the line of fire, but she didn't care. What mattered most was getting Hitsugaya to safety.

"Answer me," demanded Hitsugaya. "What do you want with us?"

"It is you we want," replied the cloaked man. "She is nothing."

_"Now, Masumi!" _thought Karin, releasing her soul from her body. Her empty body fell to the ground and, as it did, there was a flash of light from the tip of their attacker's zanpakuto. It hit Karin's body in the shoulder, burning a hole through her sweater.

"Karin, no!" yelled Hitsugaya, retrieving her limp body from the ground, despite the blade pointed at his chest. The female shinigami moved closer, but he knew now that she would not attack him.

At the same time, now in her shinigami form, Karin lunged at the cloaked man, managing to make contact with his weapon before he could fire off another volley. Their two blades touched, and sparks flew at the point of contact. Slowly, Hitsugaya laid Karin's body on the ground and walked in front of it, all the while watching the woman's blade, which remained pointed at him.

"Leave her alone," he said, looking at Karin and the male shinigami and frowning. "It's me you want, isn't it?"

At this, Karin and her opponent stopped struggling, although their blades were still pressed together, ready to resume hostilities.

"You will come willingly?" said the man.

"Yes," replied Hitsugaya, without hesitation. "But you must not harm her."

"No!" said Karin. "It's too dangerous. You know nothing about them, Toushirou."

"You're weak, Karin," he said, "I can feel it. Now is not the time for a fight."

"But, I…" Karin began, but he interrupted her.

"That's an order, Kurosaki."

Karin was silent, but she did not lower her weapon. _"He wants me to wait,"_ she thought, realization dawning._ "He's planning something. He's trying to give me time to recuperate."_

The female shinigami gestured toward Otaru, and Hitsugaya began to walk down the path with her weapon now aimed at the small of his back. Her companion backed off slightly, but kept his weapon aimed at Karin. As Hitsugaya and the woman neared the next hairpin turn on the trail, however, Hitsugaya spun around and kicked her, hard, on the wrist, sending her zanpakuto flying several feet away.

There was a blinding flash of light from the male attacker now, aimed directly at the place where Karin stood. Karin, unsurprised, closed her eyes, summoning her strength to shield herself from the attack. A cloud of reddish-orange light swirled about Karin's feet and coiled itself around her body, creating a barrier of energy. There was a second flash of light and an explosion, as the attack met bands of light and an enormous cloud of dust and debris rose from the spot.

"Karin!" yelled Hitsugaya, turning back at the sound of the blast, his face contorted with fury. He instinctively stretched his arm towards Karin's attacker, and opened his fingers wide, as if he were trying to grab hold of the man who stood yards away, barely visible through the dust.

There was a loud popping noise, like a window shattering, and the temperature dropped markedly. The female shinigami gasped.

There, where the male shinigami had stood seconds before, was a wall of ice, several feet thick and at least ten feet high. Karin could see the cloaked figure of her attacker, immobilized within. As she watched, the ice shattered into thousands of tiny pieces which rained like hail over the road, instantly killing the man trapped inside.

Hitsugaya stood, watching the ice shatter, his arm still outstretched, fist now tightly clenched, a growing look of wonder on his face.


	11. Old Friends

Chapter Eleven: Old Friends

The female shinigami hesitated for a second, clearly stunned at the loss of her companion. Then, before Karin could move to intercept her, she fled, using shunpo, back into the mountain.

Hitsugaya stared at the place where the ice had shattered and looked at his fist, uncomprehending. _"What did I just do?" _he thought. _"Is this the power she spoke of?"_

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Karin, back in her body, smiling at him knowingly.

"How is your shoulder?" he asked, looking at the place where the shinigami's attack had hit her.

"Masumi was able to heal it," she replied.

"Masumi?" he asked.

"My zanpakuto spirit."

"We'll be safer in town," said Hitsugaya, pushing the thought that there was still so much he didn't understand out of his mind and focusing on something he could control. Thinking like a soldier.

Karin nodded and picked up her pack, and they headed down the path to Otaru.

***********************************

"Kazumi-sama," said the shinigami, bowing deeply and throwing off the hood of her cloak to reveal her long auburn hair. "I apologize, but we were unable to retrieve the Guardian."

"It appears that our current strategy of getting rid of the Kurosaki woman is getting us nowhere," said Kazumi, studying the woman. "Where is Suzuki?"

"Dead," replied the woman, her brow creased in frustration.

"Kurosaki is strong," said Kazumi. "Suzuki was always careless."

"But it wasn't the woman who killed Suzuki," she replied, clearly relishing the revelation.

Kazumi looked at her with mild surprise.

"No, Kazumi-sama," she said, a smile playing upon her lips. "It was the Guardian."

"Hitsugaya-taicho? How unfortunate. As we predicted, the stone's effects are still not permanent."

"He has not fully regained his powers," said the woman. "He has no weapon."

"We cannot let him regain his full powers yet," said Kazumi, thoughtfully. "If he opposes us, it will be far more difficult. We need to control the dragon."

"His understanding of the situation appears to be limited. He may yet be persuaded to join us," she replied.

"Perhaps, then, it is time you formally introduced yourself to him. He has shown himself in the past to be susceptible to your, ah, charms, shall we say, has he not?"

"My zanpakuto can be quite persuasive, I am told." The woman smiled and fingered her weapon.

"That, and much more, Nobuko," replied Kazumi, smiling.

*************************************

Hitsugaya and Karin checked into a tiny hotel on the outskirts of town about three hours later, taking rooms next to each other. Given their bedraggled appearance, the hotel owner and his wife, an elderly couple, assumed they were hikers who had gotten caught in the late Spring snowstorm. Relieved not to have aroused any suspicion, Hitsugaya and Karin gratefully drank the hot tea they were offered before heading up to their rooms.

Walking back to her room wrapped in a towel, having showered for the first time in days, Karin was greeted by the owner's wife, who smiled warmly and handed her a small pile of clothing. "My daughter left some of her clothing here when she moved to Sapporo," said the woman. "She's about your size, and I thought you might want some clean clothes to wear. You're welcome to keep them."

"Thank you so much," Karin said, taking the package and bowing respectfully. "That's very kind of you."

As promised, the dress the old woman had provided Karin fit her perfectly. Karin could not remember the last time she had worn a dress, but she was grateful to have clean, dry clothing and, she had to admit, she looked pretty good in a dress.

There was a knock on her door. Karin opened it, revealing a serious-faced Hitsugaya. His expression changed to a combination of admiration and then awkward embarrassment when he saw her. Karin smiled. She remembered that look well from when they had first met as adults. Hitsugaya had never been very comfortable around women, despite the fact that a third of his squad had been female.

Seeing her smile, Hitsugaya relaxed. She had a way of putting him at ease. Still, he could not get over how beautiful she was. A memory came, unbidden, of Karin, soaking wet and covered in dirt, dressed in hakama pants and holding a katana in her hand.

"_You're still holding back when you fight. What are you afraid of?" _

"_Nothing," Karin said._

"_I don't believe you," he said. "You are afraid, Karin, I can see it in your eyes."_

_She said nothing._

"_You're afraid of appearing weak," he said. "Afraid your gifts will not be accepted here."_

"_You're wrong, Toushirou," she said, angrily, "I've grown stronger."_

"_That's true, Karin," said Hitsugaya, "but you are still not fighting with all your strength."_

"_My 'gifts', as you call them, nearly got us killed in Hueco Mundo," she said, in frustration. "I helped the hollows, and look what happened."_

"_There is no weakness in caring about others," he said. "You taught me that, although it took me much too long to realize it."_

_She was silent._

"_You're right that shinigami are afraid they are no better than hollows," said Hitsugaya. "Your gifts prove that humanity exists in all souls, whole or hollow. That is difficult for shinigami to accept._

"_But what shinigami don't understand is that humanity makes us stronger," he continued. "It is what makes your brother so powerful. It is the same with you. I can feel it."_

"_Thank you for letting me train with you, Karin," said Hitsugaya, picking up his own sword and turning to leave. "And thank you for helping me find peace, after all these years."_

"Toushirou?" said Karin, looking at him with some concern. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he replied. "I was just. . . remembering something. Something about you." He smiled at the memory.

"About me?" she asked.

"We had been training together," he said. "I thanked you, for helping me."

"You told me I was afraid," she replied. "You were right, too. I became much stronger when I realized the truth of your words."

They stood in silence for a moment, and then he said, "I'm hungry. Would you like to get something to eat?"

"I'd love that," she said, thankful of something to distract her from being so close to him.

They headed out of the hotel and into the town center. The sun was beginning to set and, for the first time in weeks, Karin found herself relatively at ease. Since their arrival in Otaru, she had felt neither the dark presence nor the reiatsus of other shinigami. Hitsugaya appeared to have accepted what she had told him about his past, although Karin was surprised at how few questions he had asked her since they had encountered the two shinigami on the trail to Otaru that morning.

Neither of them had much money, so they purchased bento boxes at a small store and ate dinner on a bridge overlooking one of the canals. They ate without saying a great deal. Hitsugaya seemed distant, distracted. He stared up at the mountains that towered in the distance. The sun dipped below the horizon and street lights around town began to light up.

"I went to the train station," said Hitsugaya, after a while. "Before, when you were showering."

Karin said nothing, but watched him intently.

"It's changed since I was a boy," he continued, "but it's the place from my memory. I'm sure of it. This is where I was born." _"And where I died," _he added, silently.

Instinctively, Karin put her hand on his shoulder. He stood up abruptly, uncomfortable with her touch. He was losing his resolve. He wanted to hold her.

"We will leave first thing in the morning to find the shinigami who are looking for me," he said, as they walked back towards the hotel.

"Do you think that's wise?" she asked.

"They will come for me again," he replied. "I cannot run forever. Better to face them on my terms, to take control."

She smiled.

"Why are you smiling?" he asked, surprised at her reaction.

"It's just that, for a moment, I forgot you had lost your memories. It was as if you were the Hitsugaya-taicho I'd always known."

******************************

They rounded the corner onto the small street which led to the hotel. He slowed down his pace slightly, so that he was now walking behind her. He watched her move, watched her hair blow slightly in the cool evening breeze. She walked with comfortable confidence, unrushed, light on her feet. The outline of her body was momentarily silhouetted against a bright streetlight, and he felt his pulse quicken. He wanted her.

"_I'm a stranger to her,"_ he thought, _"I have no right." _It occurred to him at that moment how difficult the past few days must have been for her - she with her wealth of memories of him and he with next to none of her.

Inside, they climbed the stairs to their respective rooms in silence.

"Goodnight, Toushirou," she said, as she turned her key in the lock.

"Goodnight," he said, stiffly, watching her walk into her room and close the door behind her.

He walked over to his room, fumbled in his pocket for the key, put it in the lock and then stopped, leaning one shoulder against his door, deep in thought. After a few minutes, he heard a door open and soft footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw her there, barefoot.

"You're troubled," she said. "I can feel it."

"Karin," he said, his voice low, "I..."

She turned her hands palm up in front of her and, interrupting him, asked, "May I?"

He nodded, and she put her hands to his face and touched his soul. This time, there was no dragon, no darkness – only longing, for her. For them.

"I understand," she said, smiling at him. "But you shouldn't have worried about me, Toushirou. I've always loved you, even if you didn't know."

She kissed him and he pulled her closer, drinking in the feel of her. He ran his hands through her long hair, bringing it to his face and breathing in the fragrance of it. She felt familiar and yet, at the same time, he could find no memory of holding her like this. He reached behind him and turned the key in the lock.

"Stay with me?" he asked, the door now open, beckoning.

"Yes," she said, kissing him again.

He backed through the doorway, their lips still touching. She pulled the door closed behind them, and he pushed her up against the door and kissed her harder. She slipped her hands under his shirt, feeling the taut skin and the hard muscle underneath. He inhaled sharply, but forced himself to keep his eyes open, wanting to stay in the moment, to drink in the expression on her face.

After a few minutes, she withdrew her hands and lifted her dress over her head. The streetlamp outside the window lit the room in warm shadows, which fell across her bare skin. He reached out and ran his fingertips over her body. She sighed and closed her eyes.

*******************************

Karin woke with a start and sat up in bed. Next to her, Hitsugaya still slept, oblivious to the two familiar reiatsus Karin felt.

"_I need to find them,"_ she thought, looking down at him with regret. The idea of spending the night sleeping beside him, as she had so many times before, was something she had looked forward to. _"It can't wait. I can explain to him when I get back. He'll understand."_

She left him sleeping and silently stole into her own room, only to leave her body on the bed. There was no need for a modified soul; she would be back in plenty of time to reclaim her body before daybreak.

Karin headed out over the small city, the moonlight illuminating the streets below. There were hardly any people out this early in the morning, save a few lonely workers sweeping the streets and emptying garbage.

Karin smiled to herself as she followed the reiatsus to a small park near the center of Otaru, not far from where she and Hitsugaya had sat and eaten their meager dinner only hours earlier. After weeks of longing and, at times, loneliness, she felt whole again. Being with him was like coming home, despite the fact that he remembered little about their past. She knew that he was the same man she had fallen in love with, that his lack of memory had not changed the nature of his soul or his heart.

She alit on a small grassy area in the middle of the park.

"Took you long enough," came a familiar voice from behind her.

"Ichi-nii!" she shouted, and ran to embrace him.

"I told him you deserved to sleep once in a while," said Rukia, smiling and hugging Karin, as well. "As usual, he was too impatient to wait."

"It's okay," smiled Karin, happy to see them both. "I'm just glad you're here. How long have you been looking for me?"

"We haven't, really," said Ichigo. Then realizing how that sounded, he added, "Of course, we knew you were in the area."

"What your idiot brother is trying to say," said Rukia, laughing softly, "is that we were led here."

"Led here?" Karin asked.

"We just returned from the Soul Society," Rukia replied. "There's definitely a connection between Yamashita Kazumi and the Maggot's Nest."

"Aizen is the connection," supplied Ichigo. "No one ever found his laboratory. Of course, nobody really looked for it until a few years ago, since the Seireitei believed Urahara was behind the attacks that created the Vizards. Looks like Aizen carried out his experiments near here, in the Real World."

"It seems Kazumi and the Maggot's Nest escapees are using Aizen's old base here, in the mountains above Otaru," added Rukia.

"What are they doing in the Real World?" asked Karin.

"We don't know," Rukia replied.

**************************************

Hitsugaya rolled over and reached for Karin. Touching nothing but the pillow, he frowned. The small clock near the bed flashed '00:31'. Concerned that the shinigami who had been following him might have come back and that Karin might have decided to face them alone, he stood up and began pulling on his clothes.

"_Stubborn woman,"_ he thought, with a smile. Still, he admired her strength and determination. It was part of what made her so attractive.

There was a knock on the door, and he walked over to it with relief. _"She probably just went to use the bathroom and got locked out,"_ he thought, with a smile.

"Just a minute," he said, walking over to the door and opening it. "You gave me a scare…"

But it was not Karin who stood in doorway.

"I'm sorry to bother you so early in the morning, Hitsugaya-sama, but this really couldn't wait," said the young woman.

"What are you doing here, Nobuko?" asked a stunned Hitsugaya.


	12. Doubts

Chapter Twelve: Doubts

"You are in danger, Hitsugaya-sama," said Nobuko, glancing down at the floor as she spoke.

He eyed her suspiciously.

"Who are you?" he asked, all pretense gone.

"You know who I am, Hitsugaya-sama," she said, uncomfortably.

"How did you find me?"

"You told me you thought you grew up around here, and I…"

"You can drop the act, Nobuko, or whoever you are. I am not stupid." His face was stony, devoid of emotion.

"No," she said, this time looking him directly in the eyes, "you are hardly that."

He said nothing.

"I…," she began, "I am a shinigami."

"You were on the mountain yesterday." It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes, Toushirou," she replied.

"It's Hitsugaya-taicho," he said, his face now hard.

"You remember your past, then?" she asked, with surprise.

"No," he said, honestly, "but I know the truth."

"We do not wish to harm you, Hitsugaya-taicho," said Nobuko.

"You have a strange way of showing it," he replied.

"The Kurosaki woman has not been entirely honest with you, Hitsugaya-taicho," she said.

"Go on," he said, his expression unchanged.

"The Soul Society is not the paradise she would have you believe. There are those of us who are oppressed, hunted for our views," explained Nobuko. "Have you heard of the Maggot's Nest?"

"No," he answered.

"It is where the Soul Society imprisons shinigami who disagree with those in power, a place where we are sent to decay, without powers, without rights," she said, her tone bitter. "It is a tool that the Central Forty-Six has used for millennia to silence dissenters, and which Yamamoto still uses to this day to destroy his enemies." There was undisguised hatred in her eyes as she spoke these words. "I myself spent nearly two-hundred years in that horrible place."

Hitsugaya was silent.

"The Kurosaki woman did not tell you this, did she?" asked Nobuko.

"No," he replied, evenly. "But why should she?"

"Because, Hitsugaya-taicho," replied Nobuko, "she has not always agreed with the methods of the Soul Society, either."

Again, Hitsugaya remembered the old man, his face hard, angry, _"She cannot be trusted…She has assisted the enemy. She must be punished."_

"You remember something of this, don't you?" asked Nobuko, seeing the fleeting look of doubt on Hitsugaya's face. "You have reason to doubt her truthfulness, do you not?"

"So you create weapons to use against the Soul Society?" asked Hitsugaya, changing the subject. "Like the weapon you used against me?"

"Desperate actions are required sometimes, Hitsugaya-taicho. I did not agree with what was done to you, but I understand _why _it was done," she explained.

"And why was I attacked?" he asked, with skepticism.

"Because you, Hitsugaya-taicho, hold the key to our freedom."

"In what way?"

"The weapon that removed your powers and your memories was created here, in the mountains outside Otaru, before you were born. It was created with the assistance of a spirit which dwells in these mountains: the ice dragon. Your zanpakuto spirit. The dragon is our best hope for survival, and you, Hitsugaya-taicho, can control that spirit."

"And how does removing my power help you control the dragon? It makes no sense," he said, caustically.

"We did not seek to remove your powers," she said. "We believed that, by using our weapon against you, we could use the dragon to successfully defend ourselves against the Soul Society. We were wrong. The dragon is attached to you, it will not help us without your direction."

"So you want me to help you make another weapon?" he asked.

"No," she replied. "We wish only to live as free souls. We want to stay here in the Real World, undisturbed by the Seireitei. Through the power of the dragon spirit, we believe we can develop a means to protect ourselves."

Hitsugaya considered her words, but said nothing.

"Hitsugaya-sama," said Nobuko, "I ask only that you come with me. Give us the chance to show you that you have not been told the entire truth, that we mean you no harm. Please."

************************************

"The ice dragon," said Karin, sitting cross-legged on the grass with Ichigo and Rukia. "That has to be the connection to Toushirou, why these people are so interested in him."

"How so?" asked Rukia, with interest.

"Ever since the battle outside Karakura, ever since Toushirou lost his memories and his power, the dragon has been speaking to me," Karin replied. "And Toushirou told me that he has dreamed about the dragon. He went to look for the dragon in the mountains."

"Speaking to you?" asked Ichigo, surprised.

"Yes. But there's something more," continued Karin, now frowning. "There's something else here, in the mountains, a presence that I've felt for weeks. Something I felt in Karakura, as well, right before…"

"You told Urahara about that," said Ichigo, interrupting. "Not a hollow, not a shinigami, but something else."

"I feel it more now than ever," said Karin. "It's here, in the mountains, as well. And it seems to be growing stronger." She told them about the encounter with the two shinigami in the mountains, of feeling weak, and of Hitsugaya's returning powers.

"A weapon?" wondered Rukia, out loud.

"Possibly," said Karin. "But then why not just use it against me? Why wouldn't they have just taken Toushirou?"

"It sounds like they need Toushirou to control this thing, whatever it is," said Ichigo. "Where is he now?"

"I left him at the hotel," Karin replied. "I need to get back there."

"Your brother and I are going to try to locate Aizen's old base," said Rukia.

"We're leaving first thing in the morning to do the same," said Karin.

"We'll keep an eye out for you, then," Ichigo said, standing up.

*********************************

The first light of morning had begun to illuminate the dark sky when Karin returned to her room, and her body. Quietly, she slipped out of her room and opened the door to Hitsugaya's, intending to get back into bed with him, her absence unnoticed. The room was empty.

"_No,"_ she thought, with alarm, looking around the room for clues as to where Hitsugaya had gone. The small drawstring bag in which he carried his notebook was gone, as well. There was no sign of a struggle. _"Where are you?"_

Karin rushed back to her room, got dressed and stuffed the rest of her belongings into her backpack. She slung the backpack over her shoulder and reached for the door handle, but as she did so, she was suddenly overcome with dizziness. She fell to her knees, nearly toppling over onto the floor, her hands out in front of her, eyes closed, trying to steady herself. She felt heat from all around her and opened her eyes, not sure who or what to expect.

The room was on fire. But not any fire that she had seen in the Real World – these flames were black, and danced over the walls, the door and the furniture without consuming them. Darkness obscured her vision, and this time she fell to the floor, the heat from the flames too much for her to bear.

"_Masumi!"_ she thought, too late, as her consciousness faded.

_She stood in the vast darkness, her eyes open, unable to see even her own hands._

"_Karin?"_

"_Toushirou!" she yelled, her voice echoing across the vastness. Blindly, she walked towards his voice._

"_Karin." Another voice now, raspy, metallic._

"_Who's there?" she asked. The temperature in the room rose, and she felt the sweat bead on her face. Undaunted, she kept walking, her hands reaching in front of her, feeling her way through the blackness._

"_Not long now," said the voice. "We will be one, forever."_

"_Who are you? Where's Toushirou?"_

_She heard laughing now, almost like a rumble. And then she saw them - eyes, glowing red in the darkness – the only thing she could see._

"_Karin!" yelled Toushirou, from behind her now._

_Instinctively, she turned towards his voice. "Toushirou!"_

_The darkness grew thicker around her, and she felt it press in on her body like water. She struggled to breathe, gasping for air, but inhaling only the darkness._

"_Toushirou," she whispered, as she fell._

Karin opened her eyes. She was lying on the floor of the hotel room, gasping for breath. She sat up with difficulty, her head pounding and her muscles weak. She coughed as she looked around the room. Her legs hurt and her throat was raw. The fire was gone, but she still felt hot, feverish.

"Good," said a man's voice from behind her. "She's alive." She could feel them: three unfamiliar reiatsus.

"_Masumi,"_ thought Karin, still trying to catch her breath.

"_You are too weak, Karin,"_ replied Masumi. _"You do not have the strength to leave your body."_

"Who are you?" asked Karin, her voice just a whisper. There was no answer, only pain at the back of her head and then, more darkness.

***********************************

"_You have come," said the dragon, eyeing her with contempt. "He is here, too."_

"_Toushirou is here?" she asked, looking up into the turquoise eyes and shivering from the cold._

"_He is not ready," said the dragon, snorting. "You have shown him the path, but he has not yet chosen to follow it."_

"_Please, tell me where to find him," she begged, now._

"_He will die here, without me," said the dragon. "He lives in a netherworld, between life and death. He cannot survive here forever."_

"_What can I do?" she asked, fear in her heart._

"_Nothing," replied the beast, its tail moving about as it spoke. "But I cannot wait for him much longer, or I will cease to exist. The darkness is here. It will claim us both."_

"_What is the darkness? I don't understand. Please, tell me!"_

"_Only the Guardian can ask the questions," replied the dragon, turning away from her and taking to the air._

"_No! Please don't go. I don't understand!" Her voice echoed around her, but there was no response._

She opened her eyes and looked around. She lay on the ground, surrounded by stone walls. Above her, light shone through an iron grate. She stood up slowly, her body aching. She felt weak, ill.

"_Masumi!"_ she called. As if in the distance, she could hear his voice, but she could not make out the words. It was not just her body that was weak; her spirit was weak, as well.

Breathing deeply and trying to clear her foggy mind, she unconsciously ran her fingers over the walls. They felt strange, almost soft to the touch. Her fingers began to hurt and she abruptly pulled them off the surface. Looking more closely now, she noticed a subtle shimmer to the stone which recalled another place.

"_The Soul Society,"_ she thought, remembering where she had seen the stone before. _"The old spirit sealing pits that were used for executions. They were lined with this stone."_ The ancient practice of using the pits to execute prisoners had been abandoned long before Karin had arrived in the Soul Society, but the pits still existed as a reminder of a more barbaric time. Her knees threatened to buckle beneath her, and she sat back down again on the dirt, finding it hard to breathe again.

_"The stone absorbs Reiryoku," _she thought, with alarm. _"My soul will die if I stay here long enough."_ She had no idea what the death of her soul meant for her, still in her human body, but she knew that as long as she remained within the confines of the stone, she would be trapped within her body, unable to transform.

Karin heard footsteps coming from above her head. "You are awake," came a woman's voice, after a moment. "Kazumi-sama will be pleased."

Karin tried to focus on the woman's face.

"Who are you?" asked Karin.

"I told Kazumi that we should kill you," the woman continued. "He, however, thought that you might be more valuable to us alive."

"You're the clerk from the store in Sapporo," said Karin, still unable to make out the woman's face, but recognizing the voice.

"A convenient way to keep an eye on your beloved Taicho, wouldn't you agree?"

"Where is he?"

"He is here, of course," replied Nobuko.

"Is he hurt?" asked Karin, remembering the ice dragon's words, _'He cannot survive here forever.'_

"Of course not," answered Nobuko. "He has come here willingly."

"I don't believe you," said Karin, struggling to get to her feet, but finding herself unable to move.

Nobuko laughed. "No, you wouldn't believe it, would you?" she said. "Of course, that is part of the difficulty, is it not?"

"I don't understand," Karin said, struggling to stay conscious now.

"No, I don't expect that you would," said Nobuko, with contempt. "You see, you have not been entirely truthful with him, have you, Kurosaki?"

Karin said nothing. Had she been wrong not to tell him everything, tell him the complete truth?

"_Why should I trust you? I have a memory, Kurosaki. An old man, telling me that you had assisted the enemy, that you could not be trusted."_

"_I made a mistake. I cannot undo that."_

Karin heard footsteps on the stones – a second person entering the room above her cell.

"It is far easier to convince someone of your good intentions if you share both truths – good and bad. Now he knows the truth about the Soul Society and about you," continued Nobuko. "He does not trust you. Do you, Hitsugaya-taicho?"


	13. Dragon's Lair

**Author's Note: At long last, sigh, an update! Thank you all for your patience as I tried to grab onto my muse, and thanks to Whitecloud for the one suggestion that seemed to shake that muse out of her coma.-Lex**

Chapter Thirteen: Dragon's Lair

Hitsugaya said nothing. Karin struggled to see his face, but it was obscured by the metal grate.

"No matter," said Nobuko, clearly unruffled. "I would have doubted your allegiances more had you answered, Hitsugaya-taicho. Why have you come here?"

"I would like to speak with Kurosaki," said Hitsugaya, evenly.

"Of course," replied Nobuko. "I will leave you two alone. I am sure there is much you would like to discuss with her."

Karin heard the sound of retreating footsteps. Hitsugaya sat down on the floor above, looking down into the cell.

"Toushirou," said Karin, after she was sure Nobuko had left, "I'm sorry I …"

"It's Hitsugaya-taicho, Kurosaki," he said icily, cutting her off.

His words cut her, but she willed herself to stay calm, focused. "Hitsugaya-taicho," she began again, "I…"

"Are you hurt?" he asked, interrupting her again.

"No," she replied, hopeful at his apparent concern for her welfare.

"You lied to me, Karin," he said.

"I didn't lie," she said, putting her head down on her knees as a wave of dizziness hit her.

"You didn't tell me the entire truth," said Hitsugaya. "It is the same."

"You're right," she said, after a moment's hesitation. "I did not tell you everything, Hitsugaya-taicho."

"The people here are shinigami, from _your_ world," he said, contemptuously. "They have escaped from a prison called 'The Maggots Nest'. I believe you are familiar with it."

"Yes," replied Karin. "I have heard of it."

"Then it is true that the prison is a place where your people lock up those who do not agree with those in power in the Soul Society?"

"Yes," answered Karin, truthfully. "Although there are some who have committed serious offenses, as well."

"I do not doubt that there are people locked up in that prison who truly deserve to be there," said Hitsugaya.

"_He is right to question the choices of those in power,"_ thought Karin._ "I have done the same."_

"There are never simple answers to complex problems," she said aloud.

"No," he said. "I agree. Is that why you failed to tell me that you, yourself disagreed with the Soul Society in the past, and that you were punished for it?"

"That is in the past, as you said," Karin replied, her anger flaring slightly.

"Perhaps," said Hitsugaya. "But, yet again, I find myself wondering if you sought my cooperation to atone for your sins and return to the good graces of your Soul Society. I wonder whether you have withheld from me more than just these things in order to secure my cooperation in destroying the Sealing Stone."

"You know about the Stone?" she asked, surprised.

"Yes, Kazumi has told me about it," he replied. "Unlike you, I should add."

"_The dragon warned me that he needed to know the truth,"_ thought Karin, bitterly.

"You are right to be angry, Toush…Hitsugaya-taicho," she said, uncomfortably. "But would you trust the very people who injured you, who removed your Reiryoku?"

"No," he said. "I do not trust them entirely. However, I do not know what to believe about a place that ruthlessly represses its dissenters and believes it unnecessary to tell its own leaders the entire truth. If I were to choose between the two…"

"You mustn't blame the Soul Society for my failure," interrupted Karin, her face now somber. "I did what I believed was right. What I told you - what I failed to tell you - it has always been my choice alone."

"That you would try to take the blame for your superiors is admirable, Kurosaki," said Hitsugaya stonily. "Nevertheless, you can understand why I do not trust you."

"Yes," she replied.

"Good," he said. "Then I have made myself understood. " Hitsugaya turned and began to walk away.

"Hitsugaya-taicho," said Karin, using all her strength to stand up this time, "I…"

"Please," he said, "do not make this more difficult. I remember what you did for me, that you helped me make peace with the memory of my death and of being separated from my father at the train station. I am grateful for that and I truly wish you no harm. But, from now on, I will follow my own path. I do not believe that path will lead me back to the Soul Society, or you."

And before she could reply, he was gone, and she listened to his footsteps on the stone until they, too, were gone. Karin's legs failed her, and she sat back down, leaning against the wall.

"_His father?"_ she thought, with some confusion. _"But his memory is of losing his mother in the train station, not his father."_ And then, she smiled as realization dawned. _"He remembers perfectly well. He knew I would not have forgotten either."_

He had sent her a message: "I am on your side."

****************************************

Hitsugaya walked out of the cell block to find Nobuko waiting for him.

"Did you have a pleasant talk?" asked Nobuko, with a slight smile.

He did not answer.

"It is unfortunate, Hitsugaya-taicho," she said, "that you had to learn the truth about the Soul Society in such a painful manner. I hope you will not hold it against us. But then, you are a logical man, are you not?"

"Yes," he said, simply, "I suppose I am."

"Then you will help us?" she asked.

"Perhaps," he answered.

"What will it take to convince you to trust us, Hitsugaya-taicho?" Nobuko asked him, studying his face.

"I do not know. Time, certainly. "

"Then you shall have time," replied Nobuko.

********************************

He followed Nobuko up a set of stone steps and into the main hallway that led to the living quarters of the underground complex. She led him to the door of his room, which was flanked by a guard who stood at attention, holding a zanpakuto.

"You may leave," Nobuko instructed the guard. Then, turning to Hitsugaya she said, "We will not win your trust by posting a guard at your door. You are free to explore our home, Hitsugaya-taicho. Kazumi-sama will be expecting to speak with you tomorrow morning. I am sure you will have many questions."

She bowed and left him standing in the doorway. He walked into the room and closed the door behind him. Then, with a deep sigh, he leaned against the door. _"Karin,"_ he thought._ "Forgive me." _He stood there for several minutes, staring at the wall, thinking.

It was while he stood there that he realized his hand was cold. He looked down at his fingers and flexed them, closing and then opening his fist again. As he watched, tiny ice crystals began to form in his palm. Then, just as quickly, they melted again, and he felt suddenly tired. Instinctively, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

_He was standing at the edge of a cliff, looking out over the city below. It was neither Sapporo nor Otaru, but a city built nearly entirely of white stone. The city was vaguely familiar to him, but he could not remember where he had seen it before. The sky was clear and cloudless, and the breeze on his face was warm, comforting._

"_I am still waiting for you, Guardian," said the dragon, lazily flapping his wings as he hovered near the edge of the precipice. "You have been shown the only paths open to you, and yet you chose to take neither."_

"_Paths?" he asked, considering the dragon's words. "My past and my present?"_

"_You choose to perceive them as such," replied the dragon, its eyes appearing to see right through him. "You are intelligent, Guardian. Still, you do not listen to your soul."_

"_My soul?"_

"_It has always been so for you. You fight the truth within your soul. Your destiny." _

_The dragon opened its mouth and exhaled. Tiny, shimmering crystals of ice hung in the air between them. Hitsugaya could feel the coolness on his face._

"_I do not believe in destiny," he said, crossing his arms against his chest. "It is my choice, is it not?"_

"_Perhaps," replied the dragon._

"_And what of Karin?" asked Hitsugaya, determined to learn something from the dragon._

"_As you have said, it is your choice," said the dragon. "But if you wait too long to decide, Guardian, the darkness will claim them all."_

"_What is the darkness you speak of?" asked Hitsugaya._

_The dragon eyed him warily and beat its wings. "The darkness is ancient. As old, perhaps, as I. For millennia, it has slept. Now, it grows stronger."_

"_Is this weapon, this Sealing Stone, the darkness you speak of?" he asked the dragon._

"_No," replied the dragon. "But the Stone has awakened the darkness. It grows stronger each day. It will claim her life first."_

"_Karin's life?" asked Hitsugaya._

"_As you have said, it is your choice, Guardian," replied the dragon, who now hovered only feet away from where Hitsugaya stood._

_Hitsugaya reached out for the dragon and saw ice crystals covered his hands._

"_You are growing stronger," said the dragon. "Your powers have begun to return."_

"_What do you know of this?" asked Hitsugaya, studying his hands, which glittered in the sunlight._

"_Only that they must not know of this new power," said the dragon._

"_How can I hide it?" he asked, still staring at his hands._

"_I will help you hide it," replied the dragon. "But to control this new power, to use it, you must learn my name."_

"_How can I learn your name if you will not tell me?" asked Hitsugaya, in frustration._

"_So many questions," replied the dragon. "But they are questions I cannot answer. You must learn the answers for yourself, Guardian. The answers are within you."_

_And with that, the dragon beat its enormous wings and flew away, leaving him alone at the edge of the precipice._

Hitsugaya opened his eyes and looked around the room. Something had changed - something almost imperceptible - and yet, he could feel it. He looked at his hands again and focused on his palms, imagining the same cold he had felt on the mountain, when he had killed the attacking shinigami. He saw a faint bluish white glow which began at his fingertips and ran, up his arms, to his body, covering it entirely.

Still focusing, he willed the ice to return and, as he did so, his hands glowed whiter and white until crystals began to form, covering his palms, his fingers, and the backs of his hands. Despite the coldness on his hands, his body pulsed with energy. He felt stronger, more clear-headed than he remembered ever having felt. Images flashed through his mind, and he knew he was seeing tiny pieces of his past: his memory. He willed them to slow down, so that he could understand what they told of who he was, but they did not. The glow intensified, and he felt the temperature in the room drop significantly.

"_They must not know of this new power," _came the voice of the dragon. Hitsugaya was not sure if he had heard the spirit speak, or if he was just remembering its warning.

"_Help me to hide this power, dragon spirit," _he thought, willing the beast to hear his voice.

"_As you wish,"_ came a voice from somewhere inside of his soul. And, as he watched, the glow vanished, although he could still feel it within his body, like a current of energy which flowed just beneath his skin.

"_Reiatsu,"_ he thought, as a sliver of memory returned to him. _"That is the name of this power."_

Instinctively, he reached over his shoulder and, to his amazement, there was something there. A sword - its guard a four-pointed star. _His_ sword.


	14. Awakening

Chapter Fourteen: Awakening

_Darkness glided through the mountain, creeping into cracks and down passages, pausing from time to time to seek a vessel – a place to settle. It was near now, and Darkness was strong enough to show itself at last. It had waited long enough…_

Karin had lost track of how long she had been locked in the cell – hours, certainly, days, perhaps. She was growing weaker, she knew, but her spirits were buoyed with the knowledge that Hitsugaya still trusted her.

"_Karin," _said Masumi, after she had eaten the small piece of bread the shinigami had left her. _"I cannot shield you from the stone for much longer."_

She felt dizzy again, and the room felt warmer than it had before, and beads of sweat began to form on her face. It was becoming harder to breathe, and she lay down on the stone floor, seeking the coolness of the stones.

"_There is something else here, Karin," _said Masumi, from far away. _"It seeks to tear me away from you."_

Karin sighed and closed her eyes.

"…_don't fall asleep…"_

"_It's okay Masumi," _she thought, with a yawn. _"I'll just sleep for a little while..."_

*********************************

Darkness opened its eyes and looked at its now human hands. "Filthy place," it said, stretching its arms and standing up. It had been nearly a millennia since it had inhabited flesh and blood – far too long. This body was weak, making it easier for Darkness to commandeer, and it breathed in deeply, infusing the flesh with its own strength, pushing the other inhabitants down to a place where they could not protest.

Darkness looked around. There was no doorway here, no exit but iron bars set into the rock. Two hands gripped the bars and pushed, hard. There was the sound of straining metal and then a loud popping noise, as the bars were released from the rocks that held them in place.

Jumping up to the room above, Darkness looked around. The dragon was here, somewhere, wandering about the mountain. _"Where are you, Hyorinmaru?" _asked Darkness. From far away, the dragon snorted and flapped its wings.

"_You are going to play hard to get then, are you, Hyorinmaru?" _Darkness laughed and smiled. "So be it." Darkness knew the way to reach the dragon…it knew the dragon's weakness.

It was not far to the door, which opened with a slight push, despite its lock. Darkness slipped out into the corridor, taking care not to be seen. This was not a simple feat, given the number of people that patrolled the rough-hewn hallways.

"_Damn shinigami,"_ it thought, hiding again in the shadows. It turned down a small passageway towards the living quarters. _"He is here," _thought Darkness, as it followed the winding tunnel down to the lower levels of the caves.

Darkness traced its fingers on the cold stone, feeling for the scent of the one man it sought over all others. "He has hidden you well," said Darkness, under its breath, closing its human eyes and reaching into the space where the dragon dwelled to find its prey. And then it felt him, nearby, his reiatsu barely a flicker. Darkness laughed, and walked onwards.

"Who are you?" asked a guard posted at the end of the corridor. Darkness smiled and, in an instant, the guard dropped to the ground without a sound, without a word.

He was near, now, and Darkness drank in the thick taste of his reiatsu, swirling it around in its mouth, savoring the sweetness of it. Darkness reached its hand out and grasped the door handle, pushing the door open and stepping inside the room.

He was asleep on the bed, his face peaceful. Darkness knelt down beside the bed and ran its fingers through his silver hair. Then, very gently, Darkness traced the outline of his lips and his chin with its fingertips. It could smell the dragon within him and about him. Darkness licked its lips, hungry for the spirit that would complete it, the yin to its yang.

"_I know you're here, Hyorinmaru," _thought Darkness, willing the dragon to show itself. But the dragon merely flicked its tail in annoyance.

**********************************

_The dragon stood this time on solid ground, just feet away from the Guardian._

"_Back so soon?" asked the Guardian, surprised._

"_Time is short," replied the dragon, testily._

"_What has happened?"_

_The dragon cocked its head to the side, as if listening for something. Finally, it looked back at the Guardian and said, "The darkness has grown stronger. It no longer sleeps."_

"_Karin," said the Guardian, with trepidation. "You said she would be the first to die."_

"_The time to choose is now, Guardian," replied the dragon, ignoring the question. "You must find the others, seek their assistance."_

"_The others? What others?" asked the Guardian._

"_Shinigami. They are near. They will know you."_

"_But what of Karin?" he asked again. "I can't just leave her to rot in that cell."_

"_It is already too late, Guardian. Darkness has awakened."_

"_I don't understand. Why is it too late? Is Karin alive?"_

_But the dragon had already taken to the sky, its enormous wings of ice beating as fast as his heart. _

**********************************

Someone was in the room, he could feel it. He calmly ran his hand down under the sheets and wrapped his fingers around his katana. Then, in a heartbeat, he was on his feet, his blade pointed at the intruder, ready to strike.

"Karin?!" he said, his heart racing. She smiled at him. "I don't understand, how did you…?"

"Shhhhh," she said, putting her finger to his lips. He stared at her. She ran her finger over the slight bow of his mouth, a sensual gesture that nearly took his breath away. For a moment he stood, transfixed at her touch. Her fingers were soft against his skin, and he responded, almost involuntarily, by reaching out for her and pulling her towards him. Then, at the moment when her lips touched his, she withdrew, and he breathed in deeply, trying to regain his composure.

"We need to get out of here, Toushirou," she said, her brown eyes fixed on his turquoise ones. "They'll be looking for me."

"The dragon, it told me that the darkness had awakened," he said, in a whisper. "I thought you…"

"The dragon spoke to you about Darkness?" she asked. "What did it say?"

"Only that I had a choice to make, to keep the darkness from destroying all of us," he replied.

"Interesting," she said, walking back over to the door and opening it to look outside. The corridor was empty. "What else did it tell you about this…Darkness?"

"Only that it was very ancient, that the Sealing Stone had awoken it from its sleep, and that I must seek the help of the shinigami," replied Hitsugaya, sheathing his zanpakuto and stringing it over his shoulder.

"Shinigami. I wonder…" she said, thoughtfully, her voice trailing off. "I see you have reclaimed your zanpakuto"

"Yes. But I still do not know its name," responded Hitsugaya, frustration evident in his voice.

She looked out the door again and signaled him to follow her into the hallway.

"Where are we going?" he asked, as they walked out of the corridor and headed deeper into the complex.

"To pay a visit to an old friend," she replied, as they reached a set of stone steps, hewn out of the rock.

Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. There was so much he did not understand, and he trusted Karin.

"How did you escape from the cell?" he asked, as they walked quickly down the steps.

"The bars were easy enough to pry open," she said. "The guards were weak, easy to overpower. But they will know soon that I have escaped, and they will be on alert to look for me. Undoubtedly, they will guess that you are with me."

"How will you retrieve your weapon?" he asked, noticing that she carried none.

"Masumi will come when called," she said simply. "It is part of my zanpakuto's special abilities."

They reached the bottom of the stairs and walked down another corridor. By this time, Hitsugaya was becoming concerned about the lack of guards, or anyone, for that matter, in the hallways.

"Karin," he said, "where is everyone?"

"They are expecting us," she replied. "There is no need for guards, they know we are coming."

And with that, she reached out and ran her hand over the surface of the wall. The wall appeared to vanish, revealing a large room, comfortably furnished with benches, settees and tables.

"Welcome," said a man with long dark hair, tied back in a ponytail. "I've been expecting you both."

"Who are you?" demanded Hitsugaya, his instincts screaming at him that something was wrong.

"I apologize, Hitsugaya-taicho," said the man, bowing low. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Yamashita Kazumi. I have been looking forward to meeting you." From behind Kazumi, a woman entered the room, dressed in a red shihakushou.

"I'm glad to see you found Kazumi-sama," said Nobuko, bowing to Hitsugaya and looking over to Karin. "I am, however, surprised to see you, Kurosaki."

"Now, now," said Kazumi, smiling. "If Hitsugaya-taicho wishes to cling to his past, we must be understanding, Nobuko. Besides, I have the impression that Kurosaki-chan may have…shall we say…_changed_ her perspective on things?"

Hitsugaya frowned and looked over at Karin, who looked nonplussed.

"Where is the dragon, Kazumi?" asked Karin, her face cold, expressionless.

"Here, of course," he replied with a smile. "But you knew that already, didn't you."

Karin's eyes narrowed slightly. "You know what I want, Kazumi," she said.

"I do not control the dragon, you know that. It answers to no one but the Guardian. Perhaps you should ask him," said Kazumi, clearly amused.

Hitsugaya felt a slight chill run down his spine. _"Something is wrong,"_ he thought, his hand instinctively touching the wrappings of his zanpakuto.

"Where is the Stone?" asked Karin, her impatience apparent.

"The Sealing Stone?" replied Kazumi, still smiling. "I cannot tell you that."

Karin walked over to Kazumi so that she stood inches away from him. Then, to Hitsugaya's astonishment, she reached out her hand and gently caressed his face with her hand, a hint of a smile on her face. Kazumi put his hand on her wrist, looking her directly in the eyes, utterly unfazed.

"I want the Stone, Kazumi," she whispered in his ear, like a lover.

"Karin," said Hitsugaya, clearly unnerved. "What is going on?"

"Nothing to worry about, Taicho," she replied, her eyes still fixed on Kazumi's. "Just a little…unfinished business that I must take care of. Something for which I have waited a long time."

"_What is she up to?" _he thought. He remembered the dragons words, '_It is already too late, Guardian. Darkness has awakened.'_

"Kazumi-sama, would you like me to escort this _shinigami_ back to her cell?" said Nabuko, who had been watching the interaction between Karin and Kazumi with increasing anger.

"She is jealous," purred Karin in Kazumi's ear. "She does not understand, does she?"

"No," replied Kazumi. "Do not touch her, Nobuko. I do not wish to see you harmed."

"_She_ could not harm me," laughed Nobuko.

Karin laughed. "How naïve you are, Nobuko-chan."

"I don't know what this is all about," said Hitsugaya, coolly, "but I will do nothing to assist you unless you release Kurosaki. Then we can talk."

"I'm afraid things have changed, Hitsugaya-taicho, although you do not seem to realize it," answered Kazumi. "I cannot let her go, nor do I think she wishes to leave."

The dragon's voice echoed in Hitsugaya's mind, _"You have been shown the only paths open to you, and yet you chose to take neither."_

Karin let go of Kazumi's face and turned back to Hitsugaya. "He is right, of course, Guardian," she said, smiling. "Things _have_ changed." She walked over to him and ran her hands over his chest, pulling his face to hers and kissing him gently on the lips.

He put his hands on hers and pried them off his face, the cold realization dawning. "You are not Karin," he said, his face now like stone. "What have you done to her?"

"But I _am _Karin, Toushirou," she replied. "And _much_ more. I know all that she knows, I share all her memories…" -she looked at him knowingly - "…I own her body and her powers."

Before Hitsugaya could respond, Karin held her hand out and said, "Come, Masumi." There was sound like a low hum, and Hitsugaya watched as Karin's zanpakuto materialized in her hand. "You see, Toushirou," she said, smiling, "I am Karin, but I am much stronger."

And, with the wave of her hand, the room was plunged into utter blackness.

"Do not move, Nobuko," commanded Kazumi. "And you, Hitsugaya-taicho, I would recommend that you do nothing, either."

Hitsugaya felt the room grow uncomfortably warm.

"_You must leave here, Guardian," _whispered the dragon in Hitsugaya's ear. _"You must find the others. Only they can help you now."_

Hitsugaya drew his katana from over his shoulder. _"What do I do?"_ he asked the dragon silently.

"_I will show you," _replied the dragon.

Hitsugaya felt the sword vibrate in his hands and, much to his surprise, the blade began to glow whitish-blue, illuminating the room. In the eerie glow, he could see the faces of Nobuko and Kazumi, looking around for Karin, who appeared to have vanished. Then, as he turned, he saw what looked like the shadow of a person, standing in the place where Karin had stood - darkness in the shape of a woman. It turned to him, and he could see the glint of a sword in its hand.

"Hitsugaya-taicho," said Darkness, "how clever of you. But I cannot have you leaving just now, not before I have had a chance to speak with the dragon."

Fire erupted around them all, engulfing them in flames.

"_You must find the others, seek their assistance."_

Instinctively, Hitsugaya swung the blade around and pointed it at the exit. Ice flew from its tip and there was a sizzling sound as ice met fire and melted on contact. He ran for the place where the steam rose, a break in the flames.

Darkness laughed. _"I will see you later, Guardian," _she thought, aiming her katana at the door.

Hitsugaya dove, headlong, through the door as rocks rained down upon him. Rolling as he hit the floor, he jumped onto his feet and began to run.

"_Show me where they are," _he commanded the dragon.

Immediately, he felt two souls, hidden as his soul had been. He could not sense much about them, only that they were here, in the cave. Instinctively, he followed what he knew now was Reiatsu, up the stairs and into the more populated parts of the complex. He wasn't sure if Kazumi had gotten word to others of Karin's escape, and he didn't know if the guards were looking for him, so he walked carefully about the corridors, staying in the shadows as much as possible.

"_Karin,"_ he thought, fighting the growing fear in his belly. He knew nothing about the spirit that now inhabited her body, but the fact that her memories and her powers were still intact gave him hope that she was not truly lost to him.

Several guards approached from one of the common areas, and Hitsugaya ducked behind a pillar. He realized, much to his relief, that the dragon must still be hiding his Reiatsu from Kazumi's men, since they walked right by him without so much as a glance. After they passed, he walked quickly down the empty tunnel, still following the still faint traces of Reiatsu from the shinigami.

He turned the sharp corner at the end of the tunnel and stopped cold, staring at the point of a particularly large katana. He raised his sword and sent a shower of ice flying at the two shinigami at close range. There was a flash of bluish-white light, and the ice vanished completely. He turned to run, but found himself face to face with a tiny dark-haired woman, weapon drawn, a look of surprise in her violet eyes. She had moved so quickly, he had not even noticed that she no longer stood with her companion in front of him.

"Hitsugaya-taicho!" she said. "We're friends."

Hitsugaya lowered his blade a few inches, unsure of what to do. And then, again by instinct, he breathed in deeply. He could feel them - the same two Reiatsus the dragon had shown him before.

"You are the shinigami the dragon spoke of?" he asked her.

She shot her companion a surprised look.

"We're friends, Toushirou," said the orange-haired man who now stood behind him. "I am Kurosaki Ichigo and this is Kuchiki Rukia."


	15. Choices

**Author's Note****: At long last, the next installment of "Chasing Dragons!" Thank you all for your patience, and thanks, as always, to Whitecloud for her encouragement (i.e. kick in the pants!) and her beta work! Enjoy!-Lex**

Chapter Fifteen: Choices

"Kurosaki?" Hitsugaya said, looking Ichigo over with no hint of recognition. "Then you are…"

"Karin's brother," Ichigo replied. "Where is she?"

"She is here," began Hitsugaya, trying to put into words what had happened only minutes before, "but she…

"She's not with you?" Ichigo looked alarmed.

"No," replied Hitsugaya. "They had her locked up in a cell. She escaped, but…"

"Where is Karin?" demanded Ichigo, interrupting Hitsugaya.

"If you keep interrupting me, you'll never hear the answer, Kurosaki Ichigo," growled Hitsugaya, growing increasingly aggravated with Ichigo's tone and even more so with his own lack of knowledge about what had happened to Karin.

"Ichigo," chastised Rukia, trying to diffuse the situation, "I am sure Hitsugaya-taicho would do better answering your questions if you gave him a minute to respond."

Ichigo scowled, but was silent. She was right, as always, he knew.

"Hitsugaya-taicho," said Rukia, after a moment's pause, "please, tell us what happened after Karin escaped. Anything you remember would be helpful."

"Thank you," replied Hitsugaya, glaring at Ichigo, "although I'm not sure I understand it myself. She was with me, and then she began to act strangely. She had all her memories, but she was not herself. It was as if something else inhabited her body."

"Karin told us of a presence, something she felt in the mountains," Rukia said, clearly concerned.

"Darkness," said Hitsugaya, simply, adding, "that's what it calls itself."

There was the sound of a huge explosion, and the ground beneath their feet shoot with the force of it.

"What was that?" Ichigo exclaimed.

"_Hitsugaya-taicho."_ Barely a whisper, in his mind.

The walls around them began to fade.

"What the hell?" Hitsugaya heard Ichigo say, as the cave disappeared.

Hitsugaya found himself standing in a large clearing on the mountain above the cave. Rukia and Ichigo stood nearby, looking at each other in shocked surprise. The ground beneath their feet shook harder now, and they heard the distant rumble of an explosion, deep inside of the mountain. Hitsugaya looked around to get his bearings. They must be above the cave, he knew.

Hitsugaya called the dragon. _"Tell me more about Darkness," _he commanded.

"_It wishes freedom," _said the dragon. _"Its physical existence is no longer dependent upon this place."_

"_Where is Karin?" _thought Hitsugaya, his heart pounding.

"_Darkness has not released her,"_ replied the dragon, _"But, as long as she is a vessel for Darkness, she is safe."_

"_And the others?"_

"_There are some who still live. They are looking for you," _it answered, flapping its wings now, impatient. _"They are working with Darkness."_

There was a slight rustling sound from the trees at the edge of the clearing. Rukia, Ichigo and Hitsugaya drew their weapons.

Silhouetted by the sun, which hung low in the sky, they saw three people emerge from the trees – Nobuko, Kazumi, and, behind them, Karin. Their weapons were also drawn.

"I see you have company, Taicho," said Kazumi, sizing up Ichigo and Rukia. "Shinigami. How interesting."

"Karin!" shouted Ichigo.

"Wrong, Ichi-nii," she laughed, walked calmly over to him from between Nobuko and Kazumi, her long hair blowing slightly in the wind.

"Darkness," said she corrected him.

"Where is Karin?" demanded Ichigo.

"She is here," said Karin, walking over to Ichigo and casually running her hand over his cheek. "She wants to talk to you. Of course, that is not possible. Not now, at least."

"What do you want?" asked Rukia, stepping forward so that she stood only feet away.

"Another shinigami," sighed Darkness, ignoring Rukia and walking back over to Kazumi and Nobuko. "How tiresome."

"What do you want from us?" demanded Hitsugaya, pointing his katana at Darkness. Ichigo and Rukia stood beside him now, keeping an eye on Kazumi and Nobuko.

Darkness laughed. "You can't hurt me with that," she said, her lips pursed. "Besides, you wouldn't want to injure your little shinigami girlfriend. Would you, Hitsugaya-taicho?"

Hitsugaya's face darkened. "You haven't answered my question," he said, testily.

Darkness smiled at him, her eyes burning red in the sunlight. "Of course," she replied, smiling again. "But the answer is that I only want something from _you_ Hitsugaya-taicho."

"Me?" he replied, surprised. "What do I have that you could possibly want?"

"You know exactly what I want," Darkness said, silkily, pulling at a cord around her neck.

"The dragon," Hitsugaya replied coldly.

"How clever you are, Toushirou," she said, still fingering the cord, and smiling at him like he was a particularly precocious child.

"Don't call me that," he said, angered now. "You are not her."

Darkness laughed softly. "You just don't understand, do you?" she said, and, this time, she pulled something out from under her shirt, a small drawstring bag.

"Ichigo!" yelled Rukia. "She has the stone."

Ichigo put his hand to his face and felt the familiar coldness of the mask against his skin. He heard the hollow within laugh with pleasure at being released.

"_It has been far too long, King,"_ it said. Ichigo ignored the voice, but focused on Hitsugaya, who stood only feet away from the stone.

Rukia closed her eyes briefly and particles of ice formed around her body in a halo of white. The ice crystals danced around her, enveloping her from head to foot. She now wore a hakama of pure white, and in her left hand, she held a dagger, silver with a crystal hilt. In her right hand she held Sode no Shirayuki, now pure white from hilt to tip. Her mask was entirely white, save the glowing red eyes beneath and the rose tint of her lips.

Through his mask, Ichigo gave her a look that said, "This has to work." The truth was, neither of them knew if their inner hollows would protect them from the stone.

"You are too slow, shinigami, or whatever you are," laughed Darkness, who had withdrawn the small, dark stone from its pouch and now held it out towards Hitsugaya.

Hitsugaya, who had been staring, transfixed, at Ichigo and Rukia, fell to the ground in a heap. Darkness smiled and reached out to touch Hitsugaya. Both Ichigo and Rukia moved as one, faster than the eye could follow, trying to protect Hitsugaya from Darkness's touch. Just inches away from him, however, they both ran into something solid and incredibly strong - an invisible barrier which they could not penetrate, but merely shimmered when their swords came into contact with it.

"Dammit," snarled Ichigo, his voice high, metallic.

"You are strong, shinigami," said Darkness, "but not strong enough."

Darkness now reached for Hitsugaya, unimpeded. Ichigo and Rukia struggled against the barrier, but to no avail. Then, as Darkness touched Hitsugaya's face, something strange happened. Ice began to form around Darkness's hand at the point of contact and her face contorted in pain.

"Damn you," she said, clearly fighting against whatever force was controlling the ice.

"_You will not take him,"_ echoed a disembodied voice throughout the clearing.

Ichigo and Rukia, as well as Kazumi and Nobuko, turned to see where the voice was coming from. Floating above them was the shimmering outline of what appeared to be a huge, winged creature, beating its wings slowly.

"But you know I care little about him," said Darkness, still struggling to hold onto Hitsugaya. "It is you that I want, old friend."

"_Release him,"_ said the dragon. _"You will not reach me through him."_

Darkness laughed and turned her sights back on Hitsugaya's limp form. Black fire now surrounded her arm, melting the ice that had now reached her shoulder. There was a flash of white light, and Hitsugaya opened his eyes for an instant, then lost consciousness once again.

Darkness smiled and released Hitsugaya. His soul was no longer in the gigai, she could feel it.

"_You can shield him for only so long, dragon," _thought Darkness, turning to face Ichigo and Rukia.

"I am bored," said Darkness aloud, turning to Kazumi and Nobuko and yawning for effect. "These two won't fight me because they don't want to hurt the shinigami girl. Kill them."

Nobuko and Kazumi faced Rukia and Ichigo, respectively.

"_Why the hell won't Darkness just get rid of them?" _thought Kazumi, with frustration. _"She knows full well we cannot defeat them without using the stone. She agreed to work with us to control the dragon's power."_

"I had heard there were shinigami who had mastered the powers of the hollows," said Kazumi, stalling while he readied himself to attack. "How did you know the Stone would not affect you?"

"We guessed," said Ichigo, scowling.

"Enough talk, Kazumi," said Darkness, watching them from a branch in one of the nearby trees.

Nobuko, taking the initiative, lunged at Rukia, who raised her katana and parried. The blades of their two swords met, and the two women pushed back against each other, landing on their feet, several yards apart.

Ichigo took the opportunity to retrieve Hitsugaya's gigai from the middle of the clearing, depositing it near one of the trees at the perimeter, where it would be safer. Instinctively, he looked around for the white-haired shinigami, assuming that if he no longer inhabited the body, he must be nearby. Hitsugaya was nowhere to be seen.

Nobuko now shot a blast of gold fire from the side of her blade in an arc at Rukia who, using Sonido, dodged the attack and flew up into the air. Rukia knew how outmatched Nobuko was. She did not want to kill her, but needed to disarm the woman, to get her out of the way, so she and Ichigo could find a way to subdue the thing that manipulated Karin's body.

Rukia spun on her toes, lifting Sode no Shirayuki over her head and pointing the weapon straight up towards the sky. A cloud of crystals gathered around the sword, spinning and shimmering in mid-air. She focused her eyes on the place where she wanted her attack to land and swung the blade down so it pointed towards Nobuko. The crystals, now concentrated in a powerful stream, flew directly at her opponent with incredible speed, covering Nobuko's body and immobilizing her. There was a metallic ringing sound, and Nobuko's blade shattered into tiny pieces of metal, landing on the ground around her like tiny mirrors.

Kazumi had now engaged Ichigo, also with little success. Ichigo, too, held back - there was more he needed to learn from the man who had apparently allowed Darkness to regain physical form through the use of the Sealing Stone. Kazumi, Ichigo knew, was key to understanding how to defeat Darkness without harming Karin. Controlling his attack while in hollow form proved to be a challenge, however, and Ichigo found himself dodging Kazumi's attacks instead of launching his own.

"_I'll aim just slightly off,"_ he finally decided. Then, pointing his weapon at Kazumi, he yelled, "Getsuga Tensho!" In his hollowized form, the light that burst from Ichigo's zanpakuto was black, and the air became thick with reiatsu. As planned, the attack hit just by Kazumi's feet. Bits of dirt and grass flew into the air and Kazumi moved quickly to avoid the debris.

Darkness yawned loudly. "You are both worthless." She hopped down from the tree, landing easily on the ground as if she were floating. "They're not even trying and you are both nearly defeated. How pathetic."

Nobuko was still immobilized under Rukia's wall of crystals. Darkness waved her hand and the crystals vanished. Nobuko dropped to her knees, gasping for air.

"I grow tired of this nonsense, Kazumi," said Darkness, walking over to Nobuko.

"Leave her alone," said Kazumi, "she is no threat to you."

"No, she is hardly a threat to me," laughed Darkness. "But I have had enough of her."

Darkness touched Nobuko's head with her index finger and Nobuko's body glowed red. She rose up slightly into the air and screamed as the red aura dissipated, along with Nobuko herself.

"You bitch!" shouted Kazumi, who ran at Darkness, his sword drawn. "You didn't have to kill her. She was nothing to you."

"Precisely," smiled Darkness, lifting her hand and sending Kazumi crashing onto the ground near Ichigo and Rukia, who stood watching in horror.

"_Ichigo,"_ thought Rukia urgently, _"we can't allow that thing to leave this place. Who knows what she will do if she is permitted to enter Otaru. There are more than one-hundred thousand souls living there."_

"_I know," _Ichigo thought. _"But we could kill Karin if we attack that thing."_

"_What choice do we have?"_

She was right, he knew, but the pain at the thought of losing Karin cut into him. _"Dammit, Karin,"_ he thought, willing her to hear him, _"you have to fight this thing."_

Darkness laughed again. "She cannot hear you, shinigami. She hears only what I want her to hear. She hasn't the strength to fight me, and neither do you."

Ichigo looked at Rukia and nodded.

Rukia whispered, "Bankai." Ice crystals enveloped her body, dancing on her skin, her hair and her clothing. Her hair was now silvery white, and she held two weapons, her zanpakuto in her right hand and a silver dagger in her left.

Ichigo, following Rukia, also released his bankai. Both of them aimed their weapons at Darkness.

"_Forgive me, Karin-chan,"_ Ichigo thought.

*************************************

Hitsugaya opened his eyes slowly. His head hurt, and his body ached all over. He looked around, trying to get his bearings. For as far as he could see, there was nothing but mountains of snow and ice and a bright blue, cloudless sky overhead.

"_Where am I?"_ he wondered silently, getting to his feet. The pounding in his head became worse as he stood, and he dropped back to his knees, instinctively rubbing his temples with his hands.

"I can help with that," came a familiar voice. He turned to see the dragon, standing on the ground a few yards away, watching him. It flicked its tail slightly, and Hitsugaya felt the pain subside.

"How, did you…?"

"I have severed your connection to your gigai," said the dragon, interrupting him.

"Severed?" asked Hitsugaya. "I don't understand."

"You are not meant to utilize your shinigami abilities in human form," the dragon answered, and Hitsugaya could feel the animal's icy breath on his face. "The Stone injured your soul, and you were unable to free yourself from the vessel into which your soul was placed."

"Thank you," replied Hitsugaya, warily. "But I still don't understand what it means that I am no longer connected to my body."

"It means," said the dragon, its blue eyes dancing with the light from the snow beneath their feet, "that the only thing standing in your way now, is _you_, Heavenly Guardian."

"Guardian?"

"You were the Guardian once, Hitsugaya Toushirou," answered dragon. "You can choose to become the Guardian again."

"This is the choice of which you have spoken?" asked Hitsugaya, curious now.

"Yes," said the dragon. "You must choose between that which is familiar and that which you do not remember."

Hitsugaya hesitated, recalling the strange transformation of his companions back in the clearing. There was so much he didn't understand, that he didn't know. Even Karin, whom he had trusted, had not trusted _him_ with the entire truth.

"You are still unsure," said the dragon, as if it had read Hitsugaya's mind. "You do not remember enough of your existence before the Stone to know whether you wish to return."

"That is true," replied Hitsugaya, slowly. "But if Karin's life is dependent upon my choice, then I choose to return to that earlier existence."

"That is not good enough, Guardian," replied the dragon, evenly. "That is not a true choice - it is a choice made for a mere exigency. You must choose for more than just convenience sake."

Hitsugaya glared at the dragon. He was irritated with the beast, but more than that, he was irritated with himself. He was in control. He was supposed to be the one with the power to control the dragon, and yet, he found himself constantly at a disadvantage.

"What is this place?" he asked, deciding the best way to tackle the unanswered questions about his past was to learn as much as possible about it. He knew instinctively that wherever he was now, he had been there before. It was a start, at least.

"This is your inner world, Guardian," said the dragon, eyeing him with indolent curiosity.

"My soul?" Hitsugaya asked.

"In a manner of speaking," replied the dragon, its breath condensing in a small cloud of vapor which rose up into the blue sky like a tiny cloud. "This is your own representation of your soul."

"I see my soul as…this bleak?"

"Apparently," replied the dragon, lazily stretching its wings. "It has not always been this way, however. It changed, after _she_ came."

"How so?"

"Let me show you, Guardian," said the dragon.

The ground beneath Hitsugaya's feet began to transform. The bleak white of the snow now showed patches of thick, green plants dotted with tiny flowers of white. Here and there, Hitsugaya could see small streams, apparently formed by the melting snow. Where there were once no clouds, small puffs of white floated slowly by in the blue sky. On the once-white towering mountains, he could now see trees and rocks.

"_Karin_ did this?" marveled Hitsugaya.

"With your permission, yes," answered the dragon. "At first, I thought it would become too warm. But I grew accustomed to it over time."

Hitsugaya walked a few feet and bent down by one of the tiny streams, dipping his hand into it and splashing the cold water onto his face. The water reminded him of her – the woman who had stolen his heart, for a second time.

"This gigai you spoke of," said Hitsugaya, "can I release my soul from it with your help?"

"Yes," replied the dragon.

"Put me back into the gigai, dragon," said Hitsugaya, his voice sounding like that of the Captain of the Tenth Division. "I need to go back and help the others."

If a dragon could smile, Hyorinmaru would have. It would not be long now, the dragon knew. The Guardian would return.


	16. The Two Spirits

Chapter Sixteen: The Two Spirits

Hitsugaya opened his eyes. He was back on the mountain, but this time, he stood at the edge of the clearing. Ichigo and Rukia stood, zanpakutos pointed at Karin/Darkness. Kazumi lay, unmoving, in the center of the clearing.

"Stop!" he shouted. "You will only harm Karin."

Rukia and Ichigo looked at each other, then lowered their weapons. Darkness smiled.

"The voice of reason," said Darkness, turning her back on her would-be attackers and walking over to Hitsugaya. "But you always were reasonable, weren't you, Guardian?"

Using shunpo, Ichigo and Rukia now stood by Hitsugaya's side, ready to protect him.

"Stay back!" commanded Hitsugaya, his face set in a determined scowl. Then, turning to Darkness he said, "I will come with you."

"Are you insane?" barked Ichigo.

"Hardly," he replied, stoically. "Just practical. We cannot defeat her."

"We don't _know_ if we can defeat her," Ichigo argued.

"No," Hitsugaya replied, his expression unreadable. "You will stay here. She will not harm me." _"At least not yet," _he thought.

"Hitsugaya-taicho…," began Rukia.

"Enough of this," interrupted Darkness, impatiently. "If you do not allow him to leave with me, I will kill all of you, as well as those humans who dwell in Otaru. I have no need for any of you."

"Stay back," Hitsugaya ordered, and both Ichigo and Rukia heard the power of the Gotei captain in his voice. Rukia nodded at Ichigo, and both of them lowered their zanpakutos.

Darkness waved her hand, and the world around Hitsugaya and Darkness vanished.

"He's still a stubborn, obstinate, …" began Ichigo, his mask dissolving.

"We have to trust him," interrupted Rukia, releasing her hollow and sheathing her katana. "What other choice is there?"

In the center of the clearing, Kazumi stirred slightly and moaned. Ichigo stood next to him in a second, his sword pointed at the man's heart.

"Get up," Ichigo said, his brow furrowed and eyes narrowed to slits.

Kazumi stood up, clearly shaken. "Where is Darkness?" he asked, his face pinched with anger.

"Gone," Ichigo replied, "with Hitsugaya-taicho."

"I'm going to kill her," he snarled.

"No," said Ichigo. "And even if you could kill her, you'd probably kill my sister, along with her."

"The girl is your sister?" Kazumi asked.

Ichigo said nothing, but redoubled his grip on Zangetsu.

"Ichigo," said Rukia, attempting to diffuse the situation, "maybe he can help us."

"Help us?" said Ichigo, his face flushed with anger. "Like I'd trust him after what he's done."

"You don't have to trust me," said Kazumi, defiantly. "But we want the same thing - putting an end to Darkness. That's good enough."

"You can start by telling us everything you know about the Sealing Stone," Ichigo said, coolly. "Then I'll think about whether to let you live."

"Take your sword off my chest, and I'll tell you what I know," said Kazumi.

Ichigo considered the man for a moment, then withdrew his sword. He did not sheathe it, however, but stood with it by his side, at the ready. Kazumi dusted himself off and glared at Ichigo.

"Let's hear it," Ichigo said, impatiently. "We're waiting."

Kazumi looked briefly over to where Nobuko had been killed, minutes before. For a instant, Ichigo thought he saw the look of keen regret in the man's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by hatred.

"All we wanted was to be left alone," said Kazumi, bitterly. "Here, in the human world."

"Then why the hell did you start attacking people?" growled Ichigo, still angry. "Why the disappearances?"

"We had nothing to do with the attacks or the disappearances," said Kazumi. "That was Darkness, although that we had no idea…"

"Wait a minute," said Ichigo, shaking his head. "Are you saying that this _thing_ was around months ago, and you did nothing to stop it?"

"Darkness has existed since the dawn of time," said Kazumi. "We didn't create it. But it seems as though the Sealing Stone set it free."

"Free from what?" asked Rukia.

"Free from the dragon spirit," Kazumi replied. "Before the Stone, they were one and the same."'

"And now?" Ichigo asked, scowling.

"Darkness exists apart from the dragon, but she seeks the Dragon to solidify her power."

"So this Stone," said Ichigo, needing to understand, "it somehow split the spirit in two?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes," replied Kazumi. "Although the two halves, are not, in any sense equal or even similar. Darkness is aptly named – she is far less logical and infinitely more dangerous than the dragon."

"What will happen if Darkness is reunited with the dragon?" Rukia asked.

"I'm not sure," Kazumi replied. "The dragon seeks the Guardian – the one to whom it is bound and to whom it owes its allegiance. We used the stone to remove the Guardian's powers so that Darkness could reclaim the dragon spirit without interference. We believed that reuniting the two parts would give us the power to fend off the Soul Society."

"But if the Guardian does not control the dragon…," Ichigo began.

"Then Darkness will ultimately regain control the dragon," finished Kazumi. "If that happens, Darkness will be immensely powerful. She has shown herself to be highly destructive, and randomly so. It is likely that she would completely dominate the dragon, and…" His voice trailed off, as all three of them contemplated the havoc an immensely powerful Darkness could wreak upon both the human and spirit worlds.

"Can we use the Stone to restore Hitsugaya-taicho's memories?" Rukia asked.

"Yes," replied Kazumi. "But Darkness has the stone now, and she certainly won't return it. She intends to use it, to bind her to the dragon."

"What happens if we destroy the stone?" Ichigo asked, hopefully.

"I'm not sure," answered Kazumi, shaking his head. "Hitsugaya's memories will probably return, but we would lose our means to control Darkness. The Stone is the only means to bind her."

*******************************

_Karin awoke in her inner world, a place shimmering with stars and where the ground rippled like water. She sat, knees to her chest, wearing a white shihakushou that appeared to glow. All around her, the wind whistled and blew, and her hair whipped around her face, forcing her to push away with her hands the strands which fell into her eyes._

"_Masumi." _

"_I have been waiting, Karin," said Masumi, wearing a simple kimono that shone with the reddish-orange light of a sunset. His long silver hair blew about his face, as well, and the long braid down his back was tossed about by the wind. His face was flawless, his eyes, steel-gray and lit from within like mirrors._

"_Why is my soul so turbulent?" she asked, standing up to face him._

"_Your soul is in conflict," replied Masumi, smiling kindly. "You are struggling for control of your world, Karin."_

"_I felt him, just now," she said, the fog beginning to clear from her mind. "He has the Stone. What will Darkness do?"_

"_He has the dragon's protection," Masumi replied. "She will not harm him."_

"_The conflict - the struggle you spoke of – how do I fight?"_

"_You must destroy the Stone," said Masumi. "Only in its destruction will Hitsugaya be able to find the power to defeat Darkness. No one else has this power but him."_

"_How do I destroy the Stone?" Karin asked._

"_I will tell you. But first, you must know that there is a risk – a cost to its destruction, Karin," replied Masumi._

"_There is no choice in this, Masumi," Karin said. "Tell me."_

"_You can direct the Guardian's power."_

"_You mean focus it, on the Stone?" Karin asked._

"_Yes. You must sense the Stone and guide his power to it," Masumi replied. "Once the Stone has been destroyed, he will be able to summon the full power of the dragon. He will be able to call its name."_

********************************

Hitsugaya stood at the top of the mountain, in the cold snow. The sun was bright and the sky was completely cloudless. Looking down into the valley, he expected to see the familiar buildings of the City of Otaru, but there was nothing, just more snow and the ocean, beyond.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"On the mountain, three millennia ago," Darkness replied, her face emotionless.

"Why have you taken me here?"

"This is where I was born," she replied, not taking her eyes off the valley below. Then, after a pause, she added, "It is also where the dragon was born."

"You were _both_ born in this place?" he asked, curious now.

"We were born in the same instant, Guardian," she said. "You human spirits might refer to us 'twins', although perhaps a better description is that which you call 'Yin and Yang'," she replied. "Two sides to the same being, each dependent upon the other for their continued existence. Inseparable."

"But you are separate beings," he said, slightly confused.

"We were not always separate," Darkness replied. "Before the age of the shinigami, we were of one spirit."

"The shinigami separated you? Why? How?"

"So many questions," answered Darkness, sighing. "But I will humor you for a short time." She turned to face him, studying his expression as though she were looking for some clue as to how to proceed.

"The shinigami did not, in a physical sense, separate us," she explained. "But the shinigami called out to us, and we could not resist the call."

"Zanpakuto spirits," Hitsugaya said.

"One Zanpakuto spirit, only we did not die with our wielder as the others," she said. "We continued to live on, moving from one shinigami to the next."

"The Sealing Stone," he said, understanding now dawning. "It separated you from the dragon, before the dragon found me."

"Yes, the dragon found you when I was still weak. And once the dragon lived within your soul, I could no longer join with my other half. I was free from the call of the shinigami, but I was unable to escape the walls of my prison," she said, and Hitsugaya could see the shadow of anger pass over her face.

"The Kurosaki woman was an easy vessel for my spirit to claim- she was an empath and, more importantly, she was weakened and dying in her prison cell. I was strong enough to inhabit her soul and escape my prison."

This last statement sent chills down Hitsugaya's back that had nothing to do with the cold air blowing about them. If Karin's shinigami body was key to Darkness's ability to release her powers, there would be little anyone could do to convince the spirit to leave that same body without using force that would probably kill Karin.

"What do you want from me?" Hitsugaya asked, although he already had a pretty good idea of the answer.

"You will release the dragon to me," said Darkness, simply.

"Release the dragon? How?"

"Your soul must die, Hitsugaya-taicho," she said, with a laugh. "The dragon and I cannot be reunited as long as you control the dragon. But you knew that, didn't you?"

"I have no intention of dying here," he said, evenly.

She walked closer to him, raising her hand to his face and running her fingers across his cheek and his lips.

"I can see why she loves you," said Darkness, her voice barely a whisper now. "You are different from the others - less impulsive, darker." She wrapped her arms around his neck and he did not flinch. "It is unfortunate that your spirit must die, Hitsugaya-taicho."

"When you join with the dragon," Hitsugaya said, his face now inches from hers, "what will happen to Karin?"

Darkness sighed. "You do care about her a great deal, do you not, Hitsugaya-taicho?"

"Answer my question," he said, his face glacial.

She ran her hands through his silver hair and smiled. "She will live, of course," replied Darkness. "I will have no need for her once I am reunited with the dragon."

She kissed him, still running her hands through his hair.

"_Toushirou."_

A voice, like a whisper, in his mind. Had he imagined it?

"_We must destroy the Stone."_

He knew that voice; he had not imagined it.

"_Karin?"_

He pulled Darkness closer - he knew instinctively that it was this physical contact with Karin's body that had permitted him to hear her thoughts.

"_You must take the Stone from her and destroy it. She will not harm you - she needs you to summon the dragon."_

"This body responds to yours," whispered Darkness, oblivious to Karin's voice. "Quite touching, really."

He pulled her back against him, glancing down as he did so, to see the cord she had been fingering before, back in the clearing. Could it be so simple? He kissed her again, waiting for the opportunity to steal the Stone. He had no idea how to destroy it, even if he was able to take it from her.

"_No time like the present,"_ he thought with a sigh.

"_Call the dragon, Toushirou."_

"_Come," _he commanded silently, hoping the dragon would hear him and obey. Then he reached down and yanked, hard, on the chain. The chain broke easily, and he grabbed the Stone in his hand.

"What a pity, Hitsugaya-taicho," said Darkness, her eyes narrowed. "And here I thought we were making progress. Quite unfortunate." She grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off the ground like he was a rag doll. He clutched the Stone in his hand, struggling to breathe.

"_I need to get out of this body,"_ he thought desperately. And, just as he thought this, he felt himself falling to the ground, free of his gigai. He glanced down at his spirit body and saw that he wore a black shihakushou and white haori. Over his shoulder was his sword, still in its sheath.

Darkness threw his gigai aside and walked over to him, her eyes burning red with anger. Hitsugaya drew his sword and pointed it at her, knowing it would do little to stop her, but unsure of what else to do. She raised her hand at him and laughed softly. He readied himself for the blow he knew would come.

Nothing happened. Instead, he felt a cool breeze from behind him and he knew, instinctively, that the dragon stood there.

"If you harm him," said the dragon, batting its giant wings, "I will destroy you."


	17. The Choice

**Author's Note****: Down to the last few chapters now! And to all of you who have been complaining about how slow I've been to update this fic (you're right, of course) – take heart – the next chapter is almost written, so you won't have long to wait for Chapter 18. XD **

**Thanks to my fabulous beta and good friend, Whitecloud, for her encouragement (actually, she told me she won't read Pirate Queen until I've finished writing Dragons, lol!) and her great beta work. Seriously, woman, your ideas are great and your proofreading skills are the best! I feel very fortunate. Now you just need to finish your own fic before I die from anticipation… Arigato gozai mas, senpai! This sake's for you. -Lex**

Chapter Seventeen: The Choice

Hitsugaya was falling through time on dragon's wings. Then, inexplicably, he was standing in the Otaru train station. It was completely deserted, but for a man with a long silver braid and steel-gray eyes who smiled at him.

"Hitsugaya-taicho," said Masumi, his kimono shimmering like a million tiny stars. "I am here to guide you."

"Who are you?" Hitsugaya asked, fingering the hilt of his sword.

"A friend," came the reply. "I am Karin's zanpakuto spirit."

"Is this real?"

"Perhaps," replied Masumi, studying the silver-haired captain. "If you wish it to be."

"This place," said Hitsugaya, "it looks vaguely familiar."

"It should be," replied the zanpakuto spirit. "It is a place that holds both pain and promise for you."

Hitsugaya frowned. "You said you were here to guide me. Explain."

"Through me," answered Masumi, "through _her_, I will show you the way to destroy the Stone, Taicho." Hitsugaya opened his left hand and stared at the plain rock.

"Place it on the ground," directed Masumi. With some hesitation, Hitsugaya did as he was told. "Now draw your sword." Hitsugaya drew his zanpakuto from over his shoulder and pointed it at the stone.

"What now?" Hitsugaya asked.

"Now, you must choose."

"Choose?"

"Between what you currently know and what you do not understand fully. Between the world of the living and the world of spirits," replied Masumi.

Hitsugaya felt a cold breeze from over his shoulder and looked around. The dragon was nowhere in sight.

"This is where the dragon first found me, isn't it?" Hitsugaya asked.

"Yes, he found you here," Masumi replied, "although you did not realize it until much later."

"Until I died," Hitsugaya said, understanding dawning.

"Yes."

Hitsugaya closed his eyes and focused on the Stone.

_He was pulling on his best pair of shoes and tying them, careful to make the loops of the bow even. This was a special day – the day he and his mother would travel to Tokyo to join his father. _

_For months now, he and his mother had lived by themselves. His father had taken a job in the big city and would call for them to join him when he had enough money to rent an apartment big enough for all three of them to live. He was nearly as excited to see the big city as he was to see his father, whom he missed with all his heart._

"_You're the man of the house now, Toushirou," his mother had told him, after his father had left. He had felt so grown up, despite the fact that he was not quite seven years old._

_Glancing over at his bed, he gazed thoughtfully at a small stuffed dragon his mother had bought him six months before – one of the few toys he had ever asked his mother for. He had seen it in the window of a shop downtown when he was walking home from school, and it had called to him. He had told his mother about the dragon's voice, but she had just laughed and mussed his hair._

"_Stuffed animals don't speak, Toushirou," she had said, with a warm smile. Still, a week later, the dragon had been sitting on his bed when he returned from visiting a school friend, and there it had stayed, his constant companion in the nighttime._

"_I don't need children's toys anymore," he said to himself. "I'm old enough now. I'm going to the city." He grabbed his best jacket from the closet and walked down the hallway to his mother's room._

_His mother was seated at a small dressing table, brushing her long, dark hair. She saw his face in the mirror and turned around, putting the brush down and embracing him._

"_Are you ready, little one?" she said._

"_I'm not little," he replied, slightly irritated._

"_No," she said, with a smile, "you're not so little, are you?" He stuck his chest outward and stood on the tips of his toes, trying to make himself taller._

_They arrived at the train station about an hour later, dragging their suitcases behind them through the building to the ticket booths. His mother walked up to the window and said, "Two tickets to Tokyo, please. One adult, one…"_

"_I am __not__ a child," he said, pouting slightly._

"_Summimasen. Two __adults__, please," his mother said, with a quick wink to the smiling woman behind the glass. The woman handed his mother two tickets, and she gave him hers, which bore the words, "Adult – Tokyo" on its face. He beamed with pride, and she slipped the other ticket in the pocket of her coat._

_The train station had become more crowded since they had arrived. All around him, he saw people dressed in travel clothing with thick coats and fancy hats. He watched, open-mouthed, as a procession of servants carried seven large trunks behind a rather large woman with a feathered hat and bustle skirt. The servants looked harried and exhausted, and he imagined that the trunks had piles of heavy gold in them, like the trunk a pirate might bury in the sand._

_His mother took his hand and they pulled their bags up onto the platform. Several trains already sat on the tracks, spewing steam and hissing from time to time. "Is our train here, Mommy?" he asked, pointing at the huge black engines._

"_Not yet, Toushirou," his mother replied patiently. Our train doesn't arrive for another few minutes. She pointed to an empty track on the other side of the station. "That's where our train will be, sweetheart."_

_They continued to make their way across the platform, climbing the metal stairs that led up and over the tracks, pulling their bags back down with a clatter onto the next platform. After they had crossed over yet another set of rails, they descended onto the platform his mother had indicated. In spite of the cold weather, his mother wiped small beads of sweat off her brow._

"_I can take your bag, Mommy," he said, eagerly, not wanting her to overexert herself._

"_That's very kind of you Toushirou," she said, gazing down at him, "but I'm pretty strong myself, you know."_

"_I know," he said, "but men are supposed to help women, you know." He tried to put on his most serious, most manly face, and she bit her cheek to keep from laughing._

_By now, the platform was full of passengers waiting for the train to Tokyo, and it was becoming more difficult to maneuver about with the bags._

"_Hold onto my hand, Toushirou," his mother said, reaching out and taking his hand in hers. "Our seats are near the rear of the train, so we still need to walk a little further."_

_He could hear the squealing brakes of a train arriving in the station, and the din of the crowd became louder as some people rushed to disembark and others waited to board. He could barely move; there were so many people standing around him. __He couldn't see their faces, only their feet, their legs, and the bags that they dragged across the platform._

_His fingers began to slip from his mother's hand, and he tried to hold on. But just as he went to close his fingers around hers, a large man pulling a steamer trunk nearly knocked him off his feet, and he had to let go to keep from falling. He looked up, but he could see only dark coats, pressing in on him from all directions._

"_Mommy?" he called out. "Mommy, where are you?!" He couldn't see her face. He was lost, frightened. He had to find her. _"_Please, I need to find my mommy," he called out to the people around him. In the noisy din of the station, his voice was lost. Nobody noticed the small boy with the turquoise eyes. Afraid. Alone._

_He pushed his way through the crowd, struggling to hold onto his suitcase, trying to avoid getting stepped on or knocked over by the crowd, which seemed to press in on him from every angle. He was finding it difficult to breathe, his panic rising with every passing minute._

"_Mommy!" he yelled now, and, in spite of himself, he felt his eyes burn with tears._

"_No," he thought, "I can't cry. I'm too big for that." But the tears came, and he felt them run, hot, down his checks. He sniffled, and called for his mother again, but nobody could hear the little boy with the silver hair._

_There was a piercingly loud whistle from the train behind him, and he jumped out of fear. _

"_Mommy! Mommy!" he cried, from between the legs of the people on the platform. "Mommy, where are you?"_

_He worked his way back over to where the train to Tokyo was supposed to arrive, dodging back and forth between people and bags._

"_Mommy! Where are you?"_

_In the distance, he could hear the slight rumble of a train, coming into the station._

"_Mommy! Please, I need to find my mommy!" he screamed now, terrified, gasping for breath._

"_Toushirou!" he heard in the distance. "Toushirou, where are you?"_

"_Mommy!" he yelled back, but his voice was drowned out by the sound of the train, coming ever closer. "Mommy!"_

_He couldn't hear her voice, but he kept walking towards the train tracks at the back of the platform. She __had__ to be near here, she just __had__ to be._

"_Mommy!" He couldn't even hear himself yell this time, although his throat hurt from the effort. _

_He could see the edge of the platform and the metal tracks below. He was almost there – she would be there, he just knew it._

"_Mommy!" _

_He looked up, trying to see her face through the sea of people. He didn't notice the small bag, lying on the ground. He tripped, and he felt himself fall several feet, down onto the tracks. He looked up in horror to see the sleek black engine, only inches away…_

_****************************_

"_Take my hand, Toushirou,"_ he heard Karin say, in his mind. He reached out for her and the scene dissolved.

He opened his eyes and found himself standing back on the mountain again. It seemed as though time had not passed for anyone - he could see Ichigo, Rukia and Kazumi, yards away, apparently oblivious to his presence. Darkness was here, too – he could feel her, as well as Karin – and the dragon, who kept Darkness at bay.

"Guide me, Karin," he said aloud.

The air surrounding him became cold as ice, but he did not shiver. The sword in his hands felt as though it had become an extension of his own body, that he could _feel_ through its blade.

_He knew what to do._

Instinctively, he inhaled deeply and closed his eyes.

"_Release my soul"_ he thought, as he felt the power rise within his chest and extend outward, through his arms, through the hilt of the weapon, and onwards, towards the small, seemingly innocuous, nondescript lump of stone on the ground. _"I am no longer your prisoner."_


	18. The Two Dragons

Chapter Eighteen: The Two Dragons

The sky grew dark and the wind howled about him. Darkness screamed in anger, but he ignored her, letting himself be guided towards the Stone. He felt his strength grow and was transported by its overwhelming coolness, his mind entirely focused on his goal.

"_I am ready, dragon spirit," _he thought.

He felt ice cover his arms, snaking down from his shoulders to his wrists, his hands, and, ultimately, the hilt of his zanpakuto. This was _his_ power, _his_ strength – it both captivated and frightened him. He knew he would never again be a simple man; his existence would never again be entirely peaceful. It did not matter. _This_ was his destiny; the world of spirits was his home, and he was ready to reclaim it as his own.

"I will destroy you," he said, aloud, and he heard a crashing sound like thunder, as blue and white ice shot from the tip of his blade towards the Stone.

_He remembered the rundown shack, his grandmother, thin and wan, and the dark-haired girl he called his sister. _

"_Shiro-chan," Momo laughed, as they sat outside, spitting watermelon seeds into the air, "you're cheating! Of course they fly farther if they're frozen solid." He had suppressed a grin, pretending he didn't care. She sighed and looked at him._

"_You should come with me," she said, "to the Academy. You'd like it there." He ignored her – he had heard it before, too many times. He wasn't interested. He was fine where he was, here in the Rukongai, with Granny. It didn't matter that he often felt he did not belong, or that he sensed the fear others held for him, that they avoided being near him. But then Granny became thinner, more sickly, and he came to realize that it was no coincidence, that it was __his__ presence that sickened her._

"_You're hurting the people you love, little one," said a woman with strawberry blonde hair and huge breasts, who wore the black shihakushou of a shinigami. "You must learn to control your reiatsu. You must become a shinigami."_

_He remembered the Academy, where he saw his standard-issue katana transform, for the first time, into the familiar zanpakuto with its star-shaped guard – nearly as tall as he. He saw the looks on the faces of his fellow students – looks of fear and awe and of respect for the little boy who wielded the dragon spirit. The Heavenly Guardian was born._

_And still he went back home to see his grandmother whenever he could sneak out –through the hidden entrance in the Academy's tall stone wall. He had bought her food, clothing, despite her protests that she needed nothing. And when she died, he visited her grave whenever he had the chance._

_He remembered his promotion to Captain – the youngest captain ever in the Gotei Thirteen – a place where he felt at home, accepted, respected. And the woman who had saved him, Matsumoto Rangiku, had become his fukutaicho, he best friend, and, for a short time, his lover, fighting by his side, willing to give her life for him, and he for her. She had watched him grow into a man, put her foot down when he brooded too much, and pushed him, willingly, into Karin's arms._

_Karin – the woman who had healed his broken heart and had taken away the pain that had haunted him for nearly a century. The first and only woman he had ever loved. She had melted the wall of ice he created around his soul and forced him to confront the only memory of his life in the Real World – the memory of his mother, and the train station – of the day he had died. _

_Karin – with a heart big enough to encompass them both, and strength far greater than he had ever imagined – the woman whose face occupied his dreams, despite the fact that he remembered nothing of his former life. She had fought to bring him back home, although he had not remembered who she was. She had risked her life ten times over to save his. His soul partner, his light. _

"_I remember it all," he thought. "And I remember your name."_

He opened his eyes and said, with determination, "Hyorinmaru."

In an instant, the dragon stood before him, its turquoise eyes glinting in the sunlight. It reared up on its hind legs, its great wings beating against the air. The leaves on the trees nearby were now frozen, shriveled and dead from the cold, and frost sparkled on the ground beneath its feet.

In the distance, Karin/Darkness fell silently to the ground. From Karin's body stepped the true spirit form of Darkness. No longer human in form, she looked much like Hyorinmaru – a dragon, equally large, with greenish-black scales, jet-black wings and eyes that burned blood red. All around her rose a blurry aura, as the heat from her body reacted to the cool mountain air. Steam rose from her nostrils. She walked gracefully over to Hyorinmaru. The ice dragon stepped between Hitsugaya and Darkness, raising its wings to shield the shinigami.

"_Karin,"_ thought Hitsugaya, as he saw her body lying still on the grass. Ichigo and Rukia now knelt beside her. Kazumi followed, standing nearby.

"She's alive," said Ichigo, calling to Hitsugaya, who breathed a deep sigh of relief.

"I have missed you, Hyorinmaru," said Darkness, now only several yards away from Hitsugaya. They were close now – their wings nearly touching – and between them, fire met ice in the form of large droplets of rain, which fell to the ground soundlessly.

Hitsugaya was in awe. He had always taken for granted the dragon upon whose strength he had called, but he had never considered the beauty and grace of the powerful creature that now stood before him. Darkness too, he observed, possessed the same characteristics as her twin, although in a feral, more untamed form. They truly were yin and yang, these two magnificent creatures, and he understood, finally, the overwhelming urge Darkness felt to return to her brother.

Hyorinmaru did not reply, but merely beat its wings, as though assessing a particularly troublesome child, contemplating its punishment.

"I cannot allow you to exist without me," said Darkness. Her words were powerful, but her tone sensual, provocative. "But you have always known I would destroy you, have you not?"

Hyorinmaru's tail moved lazily about as he spoke. "You will not destroy me," he said, unconcerned.

"I had hoped to use the Stone to contain you, Hyorinmaru," said Darkness. "But, even without the Stone, I am far more powerful than you."

"Words do not make it so," replied Hyorinmaru, icily.

"Then let me show you," Darkness replied.

The air grew hot around the two dragons, burning Hitsugaya's skin. The ice dragon flicked its tail again, sending the silver-haired shinigami flying through the air to safety. Hitsugaya landed gracefully near the spot where Karin lay, sheathing his sword, and dropping down to his knees beside Rukia and Ichigo.

"How is she?" he asked, keeping one eye on the dragons.

"She does not appear to be injured," said Rukia, her tone slightly strained, "at least, not physically." Hitsugaya turned and looked and Rukia with some alarm.

"I don't feel her reiatsu," he said, putting his hand on her chest. Rukia looked uncomfortable. Ichigo's face was impassive, unreadable.

"She's alive," Ichigo said, stiffly, "that's all that matters now."

Hitsugaya nodded. Of course that was all that mattered. Still, the Stone had been destroyed, why would her reiatsu be gone?

There was a loud crash from over where the dragons stood. "Take her back to her father," Hitsugaya said. "It's not safe here." Ichigo looked at Rukia.

"I'll take her to Karakura," said Rukia to Ichigo. "Stay with Hitsugaya-taicho. I'll contact the Captain-Commander and let him know what's happened."

"What about _him_?" Hitsugaya asked, glancing over to Kazumi, who stood quietly, watching them.

"I'll go with them," said Kazumi. "I understand the Stone's power. Maybe I can help the girl…"

"He deserves to die for his treachery," growled Hitsugaya, interrupting. His blue eyes were cold.

"We'll take him back to the Soul Society later," Ichigo replied. "He'll account for his actions there." Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed in response, but he said nothing.

"She'll be alright," said Rukia, picking up Karin's body and vanishing with Kazumi.

Hitsugaya stared at the place where Karin had lain. "She'll be alright," Ichigo repeated, partly for his own benefit. Hitsugaya was silent.

The ground beneath their feet shook, and bits of debris rained down onto them. The two dragons had now taken to the air.

******************************

"There is a simpler way, Hyorinmaru," said Darkness, as she blew a thick stream of fire at her twin. Hyorinmaru did not reply, but raised his head slightly and glowered at her.

"You always were the silent type," Darkness laughed, tilting her head gracefully and studying him.

Still, the ice dragon said nothing.

"We can end this now, brother," Darkness continued, as she hovered in front of him. "You could just cede your power to me."

At this, Hyorinmaru looked positively amused. "My power is not my own to give you," he said, finally. "You know this."

"I can easily rectify that situation," she laughed, swooping down towards Hitsugaya and Ichigo and sending a large swath of fire flying towards them.

"Souten ni zase, Hyorinmaru!" shouted Hitsugaya, pointing his sword at the fire and encasing it in ice. Water splattered their faces as the fire was subsumed. Steam rose high into the air.

"If you harm the Guardian," said Hyorinmaru, his voice cold, "I will destroy you."

Darkness shook her head in disgust. "How sad, that you would subjugate yourself to a shinigami, when you could be free."

"We have been apart for more than a hundred years, and yet you still understand nothing," replied the ice dragon. This comment infuriated Darkness, and fire issued from her mouth and her nose.

"You are still the same, Hyorinmaru," she hissed. "Haughty. Arrogant. How unfortunate."

Darkness pivoted in midair, and a wall of fire flew from her tail towards Hyorinmaru. The dragon replied with a sheet of ice, which wrapped itself around Darkness. For a moment, the air was still and silent, and then the sheet of ice burst into tiny bits which evaporated amidst steam and fire.

The sky grew darker and the temperature plunged. The steam from Darkness's mouth now created a cloud of mist that seemed to follow her about, casting an eerie silver glow on her black scales. She beat her wings, hard, and the wind blew with such intensity that Ichigo and Hitsugaya were forced to plant their katanas into the dirt to keep from falling over. Then, unexpectedly, Darkness dove at the two shinigami, who moved, using shunpo, to avoid her giant tail.

Hyorinmaru's eyes narrowed in anger, and he flew down and hit her with his foot as she flew at Ichigo and Hitsugaya again, knocking her off course so she tumbled through the air towards the ground. She recovered only feet from a rocky outcropping, rolling so that the tip of her right wing brushed the grass, scorching it.

"How sweet of you to protect him, brother," laughed Darkness, as she flew high above Hyorinmaru. "But he will die here, eventually."

Hyorinmaru raised his head skyward and beat his wings against the wind. The steam which had surrounded Darkness now froze, creating tiny crystals of ice which flew after the black dragon like small daggers. Some of the crystals fell back to the ground, repelled by the heat of Darkness's body, but others met their mark in her soft underbelly, and small wounds oozed greenish liquid. She hissed and squirmed, shaking the crystals that remained off her skin. Her eyes were now nearly black with fury, and she opened her mouth and let out an unearthly noise that was so loud and so high-pitched that Ichigo and Hitsugaya covered their ears in pain.

The clouds swirled angrily above the two dragons and snow began to fall over the clearing. Darkness screamed again and lit the trees at the edge of the forest ablaze. Fire leapt from one tree to the next, and soon the clearing was surrounded by smoke and flame. Ichigo and Hitsugaya turned outward towards the flames - both shinigami fighting back the fire and struggling to breathe. From above, Hyorinmaru flew down, showering the forest with ice. The trees hissed as fire met ice, and smoke rose high into the air, partially obscuring the dragons.

"You cannot win, brother," said Darkness, slyly. "Neither of us can win. We are evenly matched - our powers are one and the same. The shinigami is the only thing that keeps us apart. It is time to finish this."

She flew down towards Hitsugaya, her huge wings now alight. Ichigo, using shunpo again, moved out of the way to avoid the attack, but Hitsugaya did not follow.

"Toushirou!" Ichigo shouted at the silver-haired captain. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Hitsugaya did not reply, but watched the dragon as she flew towards him, his sword at the ready.

"Stupid man," laughed Darkness, as she flew closer. "Alone, you could never hope to defeat me. You are not strong enough." Hitsugaya raised his zanpakuto and aimed it at her head.

"I am not alone," he said, simply. Then, gripping his katana with both hands, he shouted, "Hyouten Hyakkasou!"

The dark clouds overhead began to open until a huge circular patch of black hovered over the clearing. Snow fell onto the black dragon. Tiny flowers of ice began to appear on the dragon's enormous wings, quickly covering the entire creature in a glittering white.

"No!" shouted Darkness, as she realized her miscalculation.

"You never understood," said the ice dragon, who now hovered only feet above Hitsugaya, "that I am stronger _with_ the Guardian. It has always been so."

Darkness was now completely encased in an enormous pillar of ice. One by one, the petals on the ice flowers began to fall. The black dragon screamed.

******************************

Hitsugaya had expected her to die, just as the others upon whom he had unleashed the incredible power of his bankai had. Instead, however, he saw Hyorinmaru fly over to the spot where she floated, suspended in mid-air, icy petals slowly falling away from her body. There were very few petals left. When all hundred had fallen, she would die. Or so he had believed.

The clouds overhead began to clear, and sunlight broke through, lighting small patches of grass around them. The ice dragon opened its wings to their fullest underneath his twin, catching the remaining petals until the last one had fallen. Darkness, now unconscious, began to tumble to earth, and Hitsugaya feared that she would crush Hyorinmaru beneath her weight. But as her body touched his, he saw the blackness melt into white, and the ice dragon now shimmered in the growing sunlight, as though his body were completely covered with tiny white ice crystals.

"_Welcome home,"_ he heard Hyorinmaru say silently to his twin, as the last of the black dragon disappeared. _"I have missed you."_

Hitsugaya felt his zanpakuto grow warm in his hand, and he was filled with a sensation he had never experienced before – a heat which radiated from his hand and which filled his body. He did not need anyone to tell him what this new power he felt was. It was _her_ power – the power of Darkness, now reunited with the ice dragon. It was _his_ power now, he knew, although he could not fathom what this might mean for him – he only knew it was there, that her strength within him was palpable.

Hyorinmaru turned to him, and for a split second, Hitsugaya thought he saw true happiness in the dragon's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by the usual cool gaze and haughty demeanor he knew so well.

"You have done well, Guardian," said the ice dragon, studying him intently. "Do you understand now? Without you, I could never have defeated her."

Hitsugaya nodded his understanding, but was silent.

"There was no need for her to die," explained the dragon. "She is a part of me. She is now a part of you, as well."

"And Karin?" Hitsugaya asked, ignoring the sick feeling in his stomach.

"You already know the answer, Guardian," the dragon replied, evenly.

"She allowed me to use the power of her zanpakuto spirit to destroy the Stone," Hitsugaya said, calmly.

"She knew the risk. She understood the consequences," the dragon added.

"And her zanpakuto spirit?" asked Hitsugaya, his throat tight.

"I do not know, Guardian," the dragon answered, as it vanished. "Her fate is not in my hands."

Hitsugaya looked to his left and saw Ichigo standing by his side. He had clearly heard the dragon's words, because Hitsugaya heard him inhale, audibly.

"It's time to return to Karakura, Toushirou," Ichigo said, a muscle in his cheek twitching, despite his apparently composed expression.

"It's Hitsugaya-taicho, Kurosaki," the Guardian replied, gently.

**Next Chapter: The Lost Spirit**


	19. The Lost Spirit

**Author's Note: I just had to laugh - the queen of the short chapters (at least in this fic) turns in a 6,000 plus word chappie for the final chapter (not including the short epilogue, of course)! I hope you all enjoy it. -Lex**

Chapter Nineteen: The Lost Spirit

_He was shaking, standing in the middle of a pool of water, dripping wet, his clothes entirely soaked. All around him, fire licked at the edges of the pool, keeping him there as effectively as iron bars. He rubbed his hands over his arms to warm them, but to no avail. He could see his breath now and he knew if he stayed here much longer, he would freeze to death._

Hitsugaya sat up in bed, panting. His head was pounding and he was covered in sweat.

"Are you okay?" Karin asked, wrapping her arms around him, feeling him shake.

"I'm fine," he said, dismissively. _She_ was supposed to be the one needing reassurance and support, not him. "It was just a dream."

She put her hand to his face – it felt cold, clammy. "You need to speak to Unohana-taicho," she said, worried. He shook his head. "At least speak to my dad, then, Toushirou."

"I've already spoken to him," Hitsugaya replied. "He said it will pass, that it's probably just my reiatsu reacting to Darkness's power."

"You asked him about it a week ago," she chastised. "It's gotten worse since then, hasn't it?"

He said nothing. _"She loses all her spirit power, and she worries about me,"_ he thought, with a pang of shame.

"I know what you're thinking," she said, narrowing her eyes. "You're feeling guilty." He looked at her, surprised. "I don't need any special ability to figure that out, Toushirou."

He had been feeling guilty ever since he returned to Karakura, ever since he had learned that her zanpakuto spirit had been lost on the mountain in Hokkaido. The cold fear which had seized him when he realized she could no longer see him in spirit form had abated somewhat over the weeks he had remained in the Real World. A new gigai, provided by Urahara, had solved the immediate problem, but neither of them had been willing to address the more long-term issues their relationship presented.

"You need to go back to the Soul Society."

She had finally said it - the words she knew she could no longer deny. He had to return. It was his home even if it could no longer be hers.

"No," he said, stubbornly.

"It's been three weeks since we got back from Hokkaido, Toushirou. It's time to face facts; I'm not going back with you. I can't."

"Isshin said…," he began.

"I know what he said," she interrupted, standing up and walking over to the window. She was irritated now, with him, with his sympathy – she was tired of it. "He said there was a possibility my powers would return. But that's _all_ he said – that is was a possibility."

"I'm sorry," Hitsugaya said, rubbing his temples absentmindedly.

"_Damn headache."_

She rounded on him, nearly shouting now, "I don't want you to be sorry. There's nothing for anyone to be sorry for. I'm alive, you're alive – we did what we had to do. We did our _duty_, as shinigami."

He said nothing, but frowned. If only the damn pounding in his head would stop, he'd be able to think clearly, he'd figure out a way to make this work, to bring her home with him. Maybe Retsu could help him, and then he could help Karin…

"Look, Toushirou," she said, moderating her tone somewhat. "I'm not going anywhere. You're welcome here anytime…"

He kissed her – an unusual approach for him. He wasn't sure why he did it, but then, he did many unpredictable things when he was around her. This time, though, he felt sure it was what she wanted, and he knew it was what _he_ wanted. It made him forget, if only for a few seconds…

She was clearly not expecting the kiss.

"Alright," he said, with resignation, as their lips parted, "I'll go back. But I'll be back in a few days," he said, standing up and throwing on his clothes.

"You're up to something," she said, warily.

"I'm taking your advice," he replied, his face unreadable. He walked over to her and kissed her again. She narrowed her eyes, but said nothing. It was hard to stay angry with him. "I'll be back in a few days," he repeated.

And then he was gone, and she was left there, shaking her head.

**********************************

It surprised him how easy it was to slip back into his role as Captain of the Tenth Division. The only person who treated him differently upon his return was Matsumoto Rangiku, who took Karin's absence as her cue to step in and fuss over him like a mother. The first night he was back, he found a bento box brimming with hot soup, sushi and his favorite, amanattou, waiting on his doorstep.

"I've been taking care of myself for more than a hundred years, Matsumoto," he had said, scowling at her when she offered to straighten up his quarters. "I don't need a housekeeper. Besides, don't you have paperwork to do?" She had given him a look of utter disdain and waved her hand dismissively before retreating to her office. Still, he had enjoyed the food all the same.

It was the next day, in his office, that he realized that Matsumoto was watching him. He had been unconsciously rubbing the bridge of his nose to soothe the pain above his brows, and he saw her standing in the hallway, peering into his office.

"Looking for something?" he asked, scowling.

"No," she replied, turning and heading back into her office.

One of the junior officers entered and placed a pile of paperwork on his desk. Hitsugaya looked up at the young shinigami and blinked – the woman's face was out of focus, fuzzy, as if an aura surrounded her. It was almost as if her face were transparent.

"_Damn headache's getting worse,"_ he thought, blinking and rubbing his temples.

The young woman scurried out of his office, perhaps having misinterpreted the look on his face as one of irritation. Hitsugaya turned to the tea set on his desk, pouring himself some tea. Out of habit, he looked out of the window as he sipped. Matsumoto was standing there, watching him again. Irritated, he pulled the blinds shut, put down his cup of tea, and proceeded to walk out into the garden, hiding his reiatsu so she would not sense his presence. When he was just a few inches behind her, he spoke.

"I don't need a babysitter, Matsumoto."

She jumped several inches into the air, then scolded him, hands on her hips. "You didn't need to scare me, Taicho," she said, her musical voice pitched slightly higher than normal.

"You're stalking me," he replied, scowling at her.

"I'm worried about you," she said, reproachfully. "You haven't been the same since you got back." He raised an eyebrow.

"Meh," he replied, with irritation.

"I've seen you rubbing your head, Toushirou," she said. "And you look like you haven't slept in days."

"I've already spoken to Unohana-taicho," he told her. It was only partly the truth. He had sought out Unohana to discuss Karin, but he had told her nothing of the headaches, the dreams.

"It's my job to look after you, Taicho," she said, defensively.

He snorted and turned, heading back to his office and sliding the door closed behind him. His tea was now cold, but he drank it anyway, unwilling to get back up to find someone to bring him more. His head was pounding again and he found himself yawning. Having finished the cold tea, he leaned on his elbows and closed his eyes.

_He was so cold, he could not stop shivering. Snow was falling from the sky and he caught a glimpse of dragon's wings, overhead. He watched the surface of the water in which he sat dance with tiny ripples._

"_Damn," he thought. "I used to like the cold."_

_He stood up and the flames appeared again, licking at the edge of the water, imprisoning him within. He could feel the snow melt against his skin, and he wiped droplets of water off of his face. _

_Even here, his head hurt, and in the distance, he could hear a low droning sound, like the low rumble of a train or of distant thunder. It was closer now, and he shook his head to try to clear his mind._

"_This is a dream," he thought, willing himself to awaken. Still, he could not help thinking that this place seemed more real than any dream._

_The rumble now became more of a roar, and he put his hands to his head, struggling against the ever-increasing pain. The snow fell harder, and his hair clung to his neck and face, cold and wet. His body was racked with shakes, and he could barely stay awake. He was going to die…_

He awoke on the floor of his office, clutching his head. He moaned and clenched his teeth. The room was spinning and he struggled to keep his eyes open.

"Taicho." Matsumoto's voice now, fearful. "Taicho!"

He tried to speak, but the pain was overwhelming, excruciating.

"Call the Fourth. Tell Unohana-taicho we're coming," he heard Matsumoto tell someone else in the room.

The world went black.

**********************************

"Hitsugaya-taicho." Unohana's voice, calm but concerned. She was holding his wrist. "Hitsugaya-taicho, can you hear me?" He could see her leaning over him and realized he was lying in a bed at the Fourth Division.

He tried to speak, but the only sound that issued from his lips was a strangled moan.

"I'm going to give you something for the pain, Taicho."

He felt a warmth in his hand which traveled to his chest and then, at last, to his head. He felt the pain fade to a dull ache and the muscles in his face relax.

"Thank you," he whispered, finally able to speak again.

"You should have come to me, Hitsugaya-taicho," she said.

"I'm fine," he said, sitting up with some effort. He felt weak and slightly disoriented.

"You should rest, Taicho," Unohana said, kindly.

Stubbornly, he stood up, using the bed to keep his balance. "What did you give me?" he asked, still trying to get his bearings.

"Something to suppress your zanpakuto spirit temporarily, Taicho," she said. "But you need to lie back down. You're not ready to…"

"To suppress…why would you do that?" he asked, cutting across her. He had no time for this.

"Your reiatsu is fluctuating, Taicho," she replied. "I can only guess that the fusing of the two dragon spirits has left your zanpakuto, and you, a bit unsettled. You need some time to become accustomed to the new power you absorbed."

*******************************

After finally convincing Unohana that he would not go back to his office, she hesitatingly released him from the Fourth Division. Back at his quarters in the Tenth Division, several hours later, he sat on the steps to the garden, watching the moon rise over the Seireitei. He felt numb, but thankful for the brief respite from the terrible pounding in his head. The wind blew gently. A set of chimes above him rang softly.

"_Karin,"_ he thought, remembering when she had hung the bamboo chimes, not long after she had moved into his quarters. Two days away from her and he already missed her terribly. He was used to having her share his home, his bed, his life.

There was a knock on the front door. Even through the haze of Unohana's treatment, he felt a familiar reiatsu. He stood up and walked over to door, sliding the screen open.

"Kurosaki-taicho," he said, stiffly, still slightly slow on his feet.

"You look like hell, Toushirou," Ichigo replied with a smirk.

"It's Hitsugaya-tai…"

"Matsumoto asked me to check on you," Ichigo interrupted, walking into Hitsugaya's quarters.

"I told her I don't need a mother," Hitsugaya grumbled, his forehead creased.

"Yeah, like she'd listen," laughed Ichigo amiably. He sat down on the couch, uninvited. Hitsugaya was too tired to object, instead taking a chair facing Ichigo, arms crossed.

"I heard you paid a little unplanned visit to the Fourth today."

"I'm fine, Kurosaki," said Hitsugaya. He was tired of saying it. Why wouldn't they just leave him alone? He needed to think, to figure out a way…

"Karin asked about you," Ichigo said, after a moment.

"You checked on her?" Hitsugaya asked, hopefully.

"She's fine," he answered, evenly.

Hitsugaya took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair, uncrossing his arms now.

"You can feel guilty all you like, Toushirou," said Ichigo, studying the silver-haired shinigami. "That's not what she needs."

Hitsugaya frowned and looked at Ichigo. For a moment, he knew exactly what the other man was thinking. _"He feels guilty, too,"_ he thought, with mild amusement.

"You didn't come here to tell me about Matsumoto or Karin, though, did you?" Hitsugaya asked, after an extended pause.

"No," replied Ichigo. "I came to ask you if you'd like to train."

"With you?" Hitsugaya scoffed.

"Why not?" Ichigo answered, nonplussed.

"You've never asked to train with me before," Hitsugaya said.

"You've never needed to train with me before," came the reply.

Another scowl, then, "I don't need you to help me train."

"You need to sort things out, Toushirou," said Ichigo. "And from what I hear, you've been having some trouble with your reiatsu…"

"It's nothing I can't handle, Kurosaki," growled Hitsugaya.

Ichigo stood up, his face impassive. "Have it your way."

Hitsugaya was silent as he walked Ichigo back over to the front door.

"I'll be at the Fifth Division training grounds at sunrise tomorrow," Ichigo said, as he turned toward the breezeway that led back to the Tenth Division barracks and waved at Hitsugaya over his shoulder.

Hitsugaya watched Ichigo leave in silence.

************************************

The sun was barely on the horizon when Hitsugaya walked through the observation stands onto the large, open field the Fifth Division used for practice. Hitsugaya made his way past the vestiges of a typically well-worn and well-used training area: patchy scorched grass; bits of rock and debris strewn about. Small craters dotted the landscape, the result of attacks that had not quite met their mark. There, waiting with his zanpakuto in his right hand, was Ichigo.

"Ohayo, Toushirou," Ichigo said, grinning like the Cheshire cat.

"_Damn him," _Hitsugaya thought, with irritation. He hated seeing the Fifth Division Captain gloat, even if he was right. _"You need to do this,"_ he told himself silently, gritting his teeth and trying to ignore the toothy grin on Ichigo's face.

"It's Hitsugaya-taicho," grumbled Hitsugaya, unsheathing Hyorinmaru and pointing it at Ichigo.

"Feeling better, are we?" Ichigo asked.

"I'm fine, Kurosaki."

It was not quite the truth. He had slept better but, as Unohana had promised, the relief had been only temporary. With the return of his powers came the dull ache between his eyes that promised to grow in intensity. Still, it was an improvement over the day before, and for that, he was grateful.

"Good," said Ichigo, still grinning. "Then let's get to it." Ichigo planted his sword in the ground and said, "Bankai!" Hitsugaya looked surprised.

"What did you think we were going to do here? Dance?" Ichigo laughed. "Time to get the show on the road, Toushirou." Ichigo ran his hand over his face, releasing his hollow.

Hitsugaya gritted his teeth. _"All right,"_ he thought, _"if that's how it's going to be…"_

"Daiguren Hyorinmaru!" Hitsugaya's right arm was now encased with ice – a dragon's head covered his hand and the hilt of his sword was now an eight-pointed star. Ice covered his shoulders like armor and two giant wings and a tail, also made of ice, now grew from his back. His left arm was an icy claw, as were his feet.

It was the first time Hitsugaya had called upon his bankai since he had defeated Darkness on the mountain on Hokkaido, and it did not feel any different than he remembered. He wondered, vaguely, if Darkness's power has simply been subsumed by the ice dragon, if there was just more power to call upon that he needed to control.

"Getsuga tensho!" shouted Ichigo, lobbing an enormous burst of black flame towards Hitsugaya, who set his feet apart and narrowed his eyes.

He swung Hyorinmaru in an arc, sending a wall of ice flying at the orange-haired captain. There was an enormous crash as attack met attack, and Hitsugaya felt himself being pushed backwards. He dug his icy talons into the ground and felt the wind rush against his face.

Ichigo laughed again. "So you remember how to use your zanpakuto, Toushirou. That's a good sign."

Hitsugaya growled and raised his zanpakuto again. "Ryuusenka!" he shouted, and a stream of ice flew at Ichigo. Unfazed, Ichigo lifted his sword to meet the attack. A wall of ice encircled Ichigo, immobilizing him. Then, as expected, the ice shattered from within and Ichigo stood there, unharmed and looking quite pleased with himself.

"You didn't really expect that to work on me, did you?"

Hitsugaya was growing angrier by the moment. His eyes narrowed, and he grasped his zanpakuto with both hands now. The temperature around them dropped precipitously, and Ichigo could see his breath in the fresh morning air. A shower of ice like tiny daggers flew at Ichigo from all angles. Ichigo took to the air, batting each piece away with such speed that he was nearly invisible to Hitsugaya. Ice, finely shaved like snow, flew about the two men, creating a cloud of white. Water sprayed about the field.

"You're holding out on me, Shiro-kun," said Ichigo with a smirk, knowing it would raise the other man's hackles to be called by the diminutive.

Hitsugaya growled and swung his icy katana wide. This time, however, instead of ice, fire flew from the edge of his sword, scorching the ground where Ichigo had stood, seconds before. The surprise of this new and unexpected attack was quickly gone, however, when Hitsugaya found himself suddenly overwhelmed by a wave of dizziness and nausea.

"_What the hell is happening to me?"_he thought, struggling to remain standing. He could hear nothing but rumbling in his ears. He dropped his zanpakuto on the ground, covering his ears with his hands and falling to his knees in pain. The noise became louder.

"Toushirou!" Ichigo's voice, from miles away, through the roar.

He was going mad; he was sure of it. The sound was overwhelming, like millions of voices, pounding in his head – each of a different pitch and timbre, each calling to him, _screaming_ in his mind.

"_Make it stop,"_ he thought, his hands no longer on his ears, but now in front of him so he wouldn't fall forward into the dirt. _"Make it stop."_

"_I can make it stop," _came a voice, vaguely familiar, in his mind. And suddenly the roar was gone, and he was panting, still on all fours, trying to catch his breath.

"Toushirou," said Ichigo, obviously worried and standing by his side. "Are you alright?"

Slowly, the dizziness and nausea faded, and Hitsugaya stood up, picking up his zanpakuto and staring at it. He finally understood. How had he missed it before – the answer he sought? It had been inside of him, all this time…

"I need to see her," he said.

*******************************

He found her at the Clinic, helping her father with patients. She saw him in the doorway and smiled at him, then whispered something to her father. Isshin turned around and nodded at him, the usual stupid grin spread over his face. He followed her to the waiting room, which was empty.

"I missed you," he said, kissing her hungrily.

"You look tired, Toushirou," she said with concern.

"I'll be fine," he replied. She looked skeptical, and he added, "Really." Then, taking her by the hand, he said, "Come with me."

He led her out into the street and they walked for several blocks before she asked, "Where are you taking me?"

"The Urahara Shoten," he replied. "There's something I need to show you." She thought she saw the hint of a smile on his lips.

They arrived at the shop a few minutes later, and he led her to the back of the store, gesturing to the trap door which led to the hidden training grounds below. She had been here only a few times before, but she was familiar with the original training grounds Urahara had created in the Soul Society, having made use of them on many an occasion with Renji and Hitsugaya.

They reached the bottom of the long ladder, and he led her over to a small stream and some rocks, motioning for her to sit down.

"You're up to something, aren't you?" she asked. He said nothing, but put his hands to her face.

*************************************

_She was sitting by a stream in the training grounds, her bare feet dangling in the water._

"_Feel good?" His voice, from behind her. She jumped up, startled._

"_What are you doing here?"_

"_Filling in for Renji," he said, a glint in his eye._

"_Not interested, Hitsugaya-taicho," she replied stonily, putting her socks and sandals back on and picking up her katana._

"_Afraid?" he asked._

"_Why would I be?" she asked, scowling. _

"_Good question," he answered, a hint of a smile on his lips._

"_I don't have anything to say to you, Hitsugaya-taicho," she said, turning to leave._

"_I'm not interested in talking, Kurosaki. I came to see how good you are."_

_He shunpoed onto the largest boulder and drew his zanpakuto. "Souten ni zase, Hyorinmaru!" He aimed a stream of ice directly where she stood._

_She felt her old competitive spirit awaken. She wanted nothing more than to show him she couldn't be pushed around. That she didn't need him._

"_Hado thirty-one, Shakkahou!" she shouted, moving quickly out of the line of attack. The blast hit the rock he was standing on, vaporizing it. When the air cleared, she did not see him._

"_Looking for me?" he asked, now directly behind her. She spun around, and the blades of their weapons met with a resounding clang._

"_Damn," she thought, "he's faster than Renji." _

_Using shunpo, she retreated several yards and yelled, "Hado thirty-three, Soukatsui!" Blue light shot towards him, but he was ready. The ice that came from his weapon this time formed a temporary shield. When the spell hit the ice, the ice melted on contact and the spell dissolved along with it._

"_Nice work, Kurosaki," he said, "but you're going to need more than that to defeat me."_

"_Masumi," she thought, "let's show him what we can do." _

"_Soar, Masumi!" she shouted, releasing her shikai. She lifted Masumi over her head, then pointed the blade so that it was parallel to the ground. A wide band of orange light spread out from both sides of the glinting surface like a searchlight, getting wider the further away from her it traveled. She closed her eyes and reached inside herself, tapping into the energy from the souls. Then, using her free hand, she pushed down on Masumi's hilt, creating a wave of movement in the light._

_He, momentarily transfixed by the beauty of the attack, hesitated too long. "Now!" she thought. A shockwave of energy traveled through the light and hit him squarely in the chest. He flew back hundreds of yards, hitting the base of a rocky outcropping, a pile of rocks and dirt tumbling down onto him._

"_Impressive," he said, as he dusted himself off._

_She watched intently as he began to move towards her. Using Masumi, she shot off several bursts of fiery orange energy. He easily dodged or deflected the attacks. At one point, she had to jump quickly out of the way to avoid being hit by her own rebounding blast._

_He was coming closer now, zigzagging using shunpo, moving so quickly that it was impossible to hit him. "He wants to fight me at close range," she thought. _

"_You know what to do, Karin," she heard Masumi say. She pointed Masumi skyward, stood completely still and closed her eyes again. His surprise was evident. He had expected her to retreat, keep her distance. _

_Wind, red as the setting sun, began to swirl around her feet. He was pushed backwards even as he struggled to move closer to her. As the wind became stronger, the bands of colored light took on a deeper hue. The wind was solidifying, now translucent. It hit him on the face like the slap of a hand, and he backed away in surprise. He would not get any closer to her like this._

_She opened her eyes, the bands of red still whipping around her, blowing her hair in all directions. Untouched by the growing storm around her, she now slowly brought Masumi down from above her head and pointed it directly at him._

"_Now, Masumi!" she shouted, and a blast of red and orange flew away from her, like a whip, towards him. At the same moment, he flung Hyorinmaru backwards and forwards, sending a writhing stream of ice towards her._

_The two attacks met between them, and there was a sound like glass shattering. Ice crystals, sharp as knives, flew up in the air and began to rain down upon them. He threw himself onto her, pushing her out of the way, and the two of them rolled down an embankment and landed solidly at the side of the stream where she had earlier dipped her feet._

_They lay on their backs, next to each other, trying to catch their breaths. "I didn't need rescuing," she said from between gritted teeth. "I could have easily melted the ice."_

_He looked almost comical, his silver hair flecked with bits of rock, his haori soaking wet. She almost laughed, remembering the first time she had seen him in the Soul Society - perfectly dry despite the driving rain. Now, here he lay, the man who always tried to maintain perfect control over everything, looking like a filthy, drowned rat. The irony was not lost on her._

_He reached over and brushed one of the wet strands of hair that were plastered to her face out of her eyes. The touch of his fingers against her face was electric. She pulled away from him. _

"_You've gotten much stronger, Karin," he said._

"_I've gotta go," she said, uncomfortably, standing up quickly and dusting herself off. She wiped her face on her sleeve and pushed her hair back. Her face still tingled where he had touched her. She was quickly losing her resolve._

"_You're still holding back when you fight. What are you afraid of?" he asked, standing up as well._

"_Nothing," she said, regaining her composure._

"_I don't believe you," he said, looking directly at her. "You are afraid, Karin, I can see it in your eyes."_

_She glared at him, but said nothing._

"_You're afraid of appearing weak," he said. "Afraid your gifts will not be accepted here."_

"_You're wrong, Toushirou," she said, angrily, "I've grown stronger."_

"_That's true, Karin," he said, "but you are still not fighting with all your strength."_

"_My 'gifts', as you call them, nearly got us killed in Hueco Mundo," she said, guilt rising like bile in her throat. "I helped the hollows, and look what happened."_

"_There is no weakness in caring about others," he said. "You taught me that, although it took me much too long to realize it."_

_She was silent._

"_You're right that shinigami are afraid they are no better than hollows," he said. "Your gifts prove that humanity exists in all souls, whole or hollow. That is difficult for shinigami to accept._

"_But what shinigami don't understand is that humanity makes us stronger," he continued. "It's what makes your brother so powerful. It's the same with you. I can feel it."_

"_Is he right, Masumi?" she wondered silently. "Is that what you meant when you said my true strength was my empathy, my ability to touch the humanity in both wholes and hollows?"_

_She did not know what to say. His words had touched her deeply, although she would not admit it._

"_Thank you for letting me train with you, Karin," he said, as he picked Hyorinmaru up and turned to leave. "And thank you for helping me find peace, after all these years." _

_The scene faded, and she opened her eyes._

***********************************

She stared at him in shock. Her eyes burned from unshed tears. "I don't understand," she said. "How did you do that?"

"Do you trust me?" he asked, looking into her eyes.

"With my life," she replied. Her eyes were full of longing for him, of hope for something she could never have again.

He drew his katana from his sheath and he whispered, "Souten ni zase, Hyorinmaru," releasing his shikai.

"Has Ichigo told you how he became a shinigami?" he asked.

"He took Rukia's katana and ran it through his soul," she replied, understanding now dawning. "But…"

"I have been entrusted with something that belongs to you, Karin," he replied. "It's time to return it to its master."

He handed her the sharp tip of his zanpakuto, and she instinctively took it in her hands, pointing it at her heart. She closed her eyes and she guided his blade home. There was no pain, only a feeling of weightlessness, of release.

****************************

_Her feet touched down on ground that rippled like water. She looked up and saw a sky full of shimmering stars. She wore a shihakushou of pure white that seemed to glow, fluttering in the light wind. Her heart soared. She was sure she would never see this place again: her spirit world._

"_Masumi," she called softly to her zanpakuto._

"_I have missed you, Karin," said Masumi, who now stood before her wearing a simple kimono that shone with the reddish-orange light of a sunset. His long silver hair blew gently about his face and he looked at her with steel-gray eyes. As always, she could see herself reflected in them._

"_I thought you were lost forever," she said, her face wet with tears._

"_His soul was large enough to accommodate me, as well," Masumi replied, with a smile. "Welcome home, Karin."_

*****************************

She opened her eyes and smiled at him and, as she did, Hitsugaya felt the weight of weeks of worry lift from his shoulders. He could feel her reiatsu, strong and steady. His head felt clear – gone were the pain and the fog that had shrouded him since his return. He saw her, standing before him, wearing the black robes of a shinigami once again and he smiled back at her.

"How did you know?" she asked, amazed.

He laughed softly. "It just made sense," he replied, his turquoise eyes twinkling. "That, and I had begun to see and hear spirits. That was your ability, not mine."

"And now?" she asked, sensing a definite change in him.

"It seems as though a little piece of you remains inside of me," he replied, with a warm smile.

She drew her zanpakuto and held it high. "Soar, Masumi!" she shouted, and the light of a thousand suns lit the training grounds, a sunrise of warmth and power. It felt so good, to feel her zanpakuto spirit within her once again, and she sighed.

"There is something else here, as well," she said, with a grin.

"Darkness," he replied, nodding his head. "You now possess some of her power, as well as mine."

"I can feel her within you, Toushirou," said Karin, touching his face and looking into his eyes. "The dragon is finally at peace."

"Yes," he replied. "And so am I."

**Next Chapter: Epilogue - Spirits' Rest**


	20. Epilogue: Spirits' Rest

**Author's Note:**** So here you have it! It's been SO much fun to share this story with all of you. Thanks, again, to my fabulous beta, Whitecloud and to all the faithful readers who started reading "Empathy" and kept reading! Arigato gozaimas!-Lex**

Epilogue: Spirits' Rest

Karin sat in the garden outside the captain's quarters, trying to meditate. From time to time, the enticing smell of cooking food wafted its way through the open kitchen window, distracting her.

"_You are unfocused, Karin,"_ Masumi said, reprovingly.

"_Tell me something I don't know,"_ she replied, laughing in spite of herself. She stood up. "I give up," she said, shaking her head.

She headed back into the house, setting her sandals by the sliding door and tiptoeing into the kitchen, her reiatsu hidden. She walked up behind Hitsugaya and wrapped her arms around him, inhaling deeply.

"I love a man who knows how to cook," she whispered in his ear. He laughed, artfully tossing a pile noodles into the air and catching them again in the pan.

"Let's face it," he teased, "you just love not _having _to cook." He emptied the pan onto a small platter and poured a pungent brown sauce over the noodles.

"Hitsugaya-taicho," she laughed, "I do believe you're developing a sense of humor. I can see that even a tiny bit of my reiatsu has done wonders."

"Take this out to the table," he ordered, doing his best to keep a straight face and thrusting the plate of noodles at her. She laughed again and walked over to the table, which was set with a tablecloth and lit with four candles.

Dinner, as expected, was delicious, and the conversation easy. After they had finished the main course and had cleared the dishes, they leaned back on the pillows, sipping their wine. She playfully reached her bare foot over to touch his. Hitsugaya smiled and pulled her towards him, but her elbow caught the corner of the table, knocking over two of the candles. The tablecloth began to burn. He reached out to put out the flames, but she pushed him gently away.

"I can help with that," she said, pointing her right hand at the table and sending a small stream of ice to douse the fire. Then, with another flick of her wrist, she extinguished the two remaining candles, which remained standing on the now-singed tablecloth.

"Show-off," he said, trying hard to keep a straight face. His hair and face were peppered with black ashes.

"Your ice technique has to be good for something," she said, stifling a laugh.

She reached over and brushed the ashes out of his hair. Then she took her thumbs and gently brushed away the dirt from underneath his eyes. He grabbed her wrists and pulled them behind his back, and she tumbled on top of him. Before she could protest, however, he had planted his lips on hers.

"Dessert?" he laughed, untying her kimono and pushing it off her shoulders onto the floor.

"I think we can take care of that," she laughed, slipping her hands underneath his shihakushou and feeling the smooth hardness of his skin under her fingers. They now lay on the floor, skin touching skin.

"You're so beautiful," he murmured in her ear, as he ran his hands through her long hair. He was anxious to feel every bit of her, to reassure himself that this was real, that she really was here, with him, in this place. His fingertips were feather-light on her skin and she moaned with pleasure. They glided over her shoulders, her neck, and then her face - a face he had never forgotten, even when he had remembered none of his life in the Soul Society, with her.

He could feel the joy within her, and felt it grow inside himself, as well. It was _her_ power he was experiencing– this ability to sense her emotions as he had never felt them before - the power of empathy, which she wielded in every aspect of her life. He now he understood that power which now lived inside of him.

"_Please don't ever leave me again," _he heard her implore, in his mind's eye.

"_I won't," _he answered, silently, as their bodies and souls joined.

*************************

Later, they lay next to each other in bed, her arms encircling him, holding him tight against her chest.

"There's something I want you to have," he said, rolling over and opening a drawer in the small bedside table. He handed her a package, wrapped in rice paper and tied with a plain piece of string. She sat up, looking at the package and then looking back at him quizzically.

"Open it," he said, simply, his lips pursed to keep from grinning.

She slowly untied the package and gently folded back the paper. Inside was a small, battered black notebook, its edges frayed, its cover warped from the elements. Her face lit up with pleasure.

"The notebook," she said, looking through its pages at the drawings and notes he had written months ago. "Where did you find it?"

"In the hotel, in Otaru," he said.

"You went back?" she asked.

"I needed to go back one last time," he explained. "To the train station."

She said nothing, but paged through the notebook – the record of his life in the Real World. Then, smiling, she laid the notebook down on the bed, where it fell open. She wrapped her arms around him and held him for the longest time.

"I love you, Hitsugaya Toushirou," she said, with a contented sigh.

"Stay with me," he said.

"Of course I'll stay with you," she replied, laughing. "Was there ever a question?"

"That's not exactly what I meant," he answered, seriously.

She pushed him away so she could see his face, unsure of what she was sensing from him; he looked slightly uncomfortable. She put her hands to his face and looked into his eyes. He smiled at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Hitsugaya-taicho," she said, a look of surprise on her face. "Are you asking me to _marry_ you?"

"Yes," he answered.

"What will all the starry-eyed Academy girls say? I warned you that Hyorinmaru was a sexy zanpakuto."

The tips of his ears reddened in embarrassment. "They'll survive," he laughed. "Besides, your brother is set to do the next demonstration with Abarai-fukutaicho."

"I don't know," Karin replied, grinning now. "I think I need a little more convincing." He took her in his arms and kissed her, running his hands lightly over the small of her back.

"So?" he asked, his lips by her ear.

"Hmmm…I'm still thinking about it," she murmured, as he pushed her gently back down onto the pillows.

Over her shoulder, he could see the notebook, lying open on the bed. It was no accident that it had fallen open as it had – the notebook now _always_ opened to the same page. He had turned to that particular page over and over, although, in the Real World, he had never really understood why. He smiled.

There, filling the entire page, was a sketch of a woman with long dark hair and a warm smile. Underneath the drawing were four simple words, "She is the key."

FIN


End file.
